Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.

　— Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind

　The "official" Camarilla position is that Gehenna is a myth used to frighten childer, and the Kindred need not fear their ancestors. The elders scoff at the legend and mock their worried progeny for paying heed to anarch fear-mongering.

　However, some elders who outwardly uphold the Camarilla chains of Blood Bonds are as afraid of a potential Gehenna as their progeny - and more so, since their blood is the rarest. They have formed small cells within the Camarilla where they can discuss this forbidden subject. These are the most secret of secret societies, and their carefully coded conversations take up a lot of time in Elysium gatherings. All members of Gehenna cults are sworn to secrecy, since one member caught puts the whole group at risk of exposure.

　Few experiences are as terrifying and exhilarating for elders as a meeting of their Gehenna cult. They feel vulnerable, powerful and excitingly naughty all at the same time. Contradictory and uncomfortable though they seem, such feelings are really of great value to most elders, whose emotions began to calcify long ago. There is also great comfort in cult membership. The elders feel they are doing something about the greatest danger in their universe, even though most of them secretly feel doomed to failure in an utterly impossible task.

　Membership in a Gehenna cult is a risky game, since some Kindred are now so fearful of Gehenna they publicly disdain that they would betray their own clan to prevent it. That makes them vulnerable to those who say they can read signs and portents, like Gypsies, mages or Sabbat priests of the Paths of Enlightenment.

　Some cults are social clubs with a secret Gehenna component known only to the highest circles, while others are completely underground. Most are exceptionally small, and none have more than a few hundred members. The ones which follow are only a sampling of those in existence.



Royal Order of the Edenic Groundskeepers

　Founding: 1645
　Motto: Knowledge, Wisdom, Vigilance

　This pretentiously titled group represents itself to lesser clan members as a social club for elders. lts true purpose is to resist the Antediluvians at Gehenna by arming elders against the return of their Third-Generation ancestors.

　In order to see the outcome of the imbalanced struggle against the near-omnipotent progenitor Kindred as anything but the slaughter of all elders, the cult has reinterpreted the terms of the struggle. Its leaders have recast the Antediluvians as subterranean vermin and themselves as vigilant gardeners. Elders are prone to despair in even the best of circumstances: by revising the terms of the conflict, they attempt to keep their last vestiges of hope from dying.

　Their scenario depicts victory growing from three sources: knowledge of the resting places of all Antediluvians, wisdom to correctly interpret the signs of Gehenna, and vigilance in the final days.


Knowledge

　Cult members collect all available information on the torpor sites of the Antediluvians and pay vast fortunes for even farfetched lore. They finance expeditions into ancient ruins to search for clues, and carefully comb archeological records. They have been known to send groups of inadequately informed neonates into long-deserted crypts in search of clues, causing clashes with Wyrm minions, Euthanatos mages and other creatures of death. This has cost many childer their undead existences, but it has yielded some solid leads.

　The Groundskeepers believe that the final days are at hand, and are frantically preparing more such expeditions. They need many brave or foolhardy Kindred and ghouls for the mission and pay handsomely in favors and intercession with princes to all who accept the offer and survive.


Wisdom

　Interpreting Gehenna lore is more an art than a science. Most Groundskeeper meetings devolve into shouting matches as the members argue their reading of the Book of Nod. Interpretations have gone in and out of style through the 300 years of the cult's lifetime. Some reject parts of the Book of Nod in favor of other apocryphal texts. Others insist that most Gehenna lore is Antediluvian lies, and should be ignored in favor of Gypsy lore, Lupine tales or even communion with spirits.


Vigilance

　The Groundskeepers have dedicated ghouls and Blood Bound Kindred patrolling the areas where they believe Antediluvians lie in torpor. These agents are instructed to report on all suspicious behavior. The Kindred servants are elite shock troops who are commanded to give their unlives when so ordered. They have laid traps of fire, wood and immobilization until sunlight, in hopes of killing the Antediluvians while they are still weak from torpor.

　Few elders believe their troops will succeed in this task. Their main hope is that their Kindred pawns will hinder the Antediluvians and buy the elders time to flee and arrange areal counterattack.


The Final Battle

　The Groundskeepers are pathologically afraid of meeting the Antediluvians in the elders' own havens, even though the elders would have a territorial advantage there. Instead, they prefer to take the battle to their progenitors. The elders have spent many brooding nights and long, sleepless days imagining the final fight. In their blood-fevered imaginations, they see the interval between the rising of the Antediluvians and the actual attack as a time of terrified paralysis. To stay alert, the elders feel they have to remain in motion. So they wish to take the fight directly to their ancestors, even of that means losing the tactical edge.




Imperial Order of the Master Edenic Groundskeepers

　Founded: 1898
　Motto: Strike First. Strike Last.

　A counter-faction of the Groundskeepers sprang up about 100 years ago. They call themselves the Master Edenic Groundskeepers, and they are far more militant. These elders do not want to wait for the inevitable day when the Antediluvians rise up; they want attack now, while their progenitors slumber.

　By attacking first, they hope to catch the Antediluvians unaware and vulnerable. They think that this is the only chance they have and are planning daring raids into are as they have targeted as Antediluvian havens. They are actively recruiting younger Kindred to join these missions. None of their groups has destroyed an Antediluvian, but they have killed some very old Kindred that were suspiciously not a part of vampire society, and they have stolen some strange manuscripts.

　The majority of the Groundskeepers are appalled and frightened at the ideas put forth by this faction and argue fervently against them during meetings. They believe that attacking the torpid Antediluvians will only stir up trouble where none now exists. If an Antediluvian is unable to voluntarily awaken from torpor, an attack might trigger an alarm and allow her to rise. If the attack fails, the Antediluvian is sure to come after the master minds, and might initiate a "mini-Gehenna," in which all elders are eaten and the ancillae placed in charge of the Kindred.

　The main body of the cult believes that only total cooperation of all Kindred can stop the Antediluvians, and only the onset of Gehenna will give the elders that level of incentive. The Master Groundskeepers reject these arguments as the rantings of risk-averse cowards. They argue that all elders need to behave as if Gehenna just happened and seize the initiative.

　The two groups have become exceptionally fractious since the mid-1960s, and the Master Groundskeepers are on the verge of cutting all ties with the main body. The core group would like to be rid of the upstart faction, but is too fearful of confrontation to demand they leave. They also do not want to lose their most dynamic and powerful members, many of whom are Master Groundskeepers. So they are stalling for time, forced to hope that Gehenna occurs soon, before the Master Groundskeepers grow disgusted and leave.



Way of the Ancient Lawgivers

　Founded: 1312
　Motto: Repent, Return, Renew

　The Way of the Ancient Lawgivers traces its origins to the Middle Ages and is purported to have roots in antiquity. Some members claim that it has grown directly from the Second City, even though none of the elders in the group existed during that era.

　The cult is a fundamentalist organization that believes all Kindred must return to the values of the First City, where mortals and lesser vampires respected the Antediluvians. Even when the childer of Caine abused their own progeny and the human citizens, their victims did not strike back, or even harbor malicious intent. They thanked their betters for use and abuse.

　Members of the Lawgivers, also called Enochians, believe that the Antediluvians intend to destroy their faithless and fickle progeny. To forestall or even cancel Gehenna, all Kindred must assume acompliant attitude toward the Antediluvians. They must subjugate humanity again and put an end to all vampire hunting with a swift and merciless hand.

　These attitudes are not popular with ancillae, who struggle for every bit of autonomy they can attain. However, they area very seductive to elders, especially the ones who fear they are losing control of their progeny. Some elders who believe more strongly in the tenets of other Gehenna cults still keep up a membership in the Lawgivers because they believe that even if the cult is wrong about forestalling Gehenna, it is still doing the valuable work of keeping the Kindred in line.

　The hardline founders of the Lawgivers, who call themselves "Cornerstones," disdain these half-hearted members, and mock them as "Claystones." They hate the Claystones' reluctant support, but hate their own dependence on them even more.

　Members of other cults argue that increased fealty to elders could backfire and actually make it easier for the Antediluvians to consume their progeny. They say that some level of autonomy is important, even though most admit that younger vampires have too much freedom. Some point out that even complete fealty did not prevent the destruction of the First City and will not prevent Gehenna.

　A secret subcell of the Lawgivers wants to destroy the Masquerade and overtly enslave the human race. These ideas are heresy to the Camarilla, who have sent archons to infiltrate the cult. The Lawgivers themselves are eager to ferret out this group, since such ideas run counter to Caine's laws as set forth in the Rules of the Canaille in the Book of Nod. A low-level cold war is underway between the cult and the Camarilla, one that has heated up as Kindred grow to fear an imminent Gehenna.




Servitors of Irad

　Founded: 1456
　Motto: Brother Kills Brother - the Faithful are Forgiven

　Not all Gehenna cults actively recruit new members. Some do their work in darkness, hidden from other Kindred. The Servitors of lrad are such a secretive cult, pledged to do the work of the Antediluvians in all things - even hastening Gehenna and betraying the other elders to their progenitors. They are named for the third childe of Caine, Irad the Strong, who served his sire in the First City.

　The Servitors hope that if they can show that they spent their unlives doing the work of the Antediluvians, they will not only be spared at Gehenna but will be the seeds of the new generation of Kindred. Since the Book of Nod makes it clear that certain vampires are to be singled out for destruction, they reason that others will be spared. They intend to be the latter.

　The only flaw in their plan is that they are not in contact with the Third-Generation vampires, and do not know what their ancestors would want them to do. But this has not stopped them from acting on the Antediluvians’ behalf. They believe that the Third Generation wish them to keep the elders weak and misinformed, so as to be less of a threat when Gehenna occurs.

　Servitors attend Camarilla Conclaves to divide the gathering with vicious rumors and backstabbing lies. Their members infiltrate the other Gehenna cults to sow dissension and sunder shaky alliances. They eagerly watch for the signs of Gehenna and seek to be tools of the Jyhad.

　Their greatest wish is to be in contact with the Antediluvians. They feel a burning shame that though their goal is to do the work of the Third Generation, they can't be sure they know its will.

　They sum up their purpose in this chant:

　Know the Will of the Ancients.
　Do the Will of the Ancients.
　Kill Thy Brother.

　Camarilla Archons have marked members of the Servitors of Irad for extermination and are determined to destroy the sect. Other elders have gained an inkling of the existence of this cult and have done their best to stamp it out. They are so terrified of being thrown to the wolves at Gehenna that they have forgiven heinous crimes by Kindred who have been willing to reveal secret information about the Servitors. Hence, the servitors rarely meet and are exceedingly difficult to find. They have even smeared other elders by accusing them of membership.

　Some of those who are aware of this group suspect that the Servitors actually are in contact with the Antediluvians and just don't know it. They believe that the cult members are pawns who are controlled from afar to cause trouble and who will be among the first to be eaten at Gehenna.



Twilight Cult

　Founded: 1550
　Motto: Find Her

　Members of the Twilight Cult believe the Book of Nod contains one stanza that holds the key to staving off Gehenna. According to these elders, the references to the "last daughter of Eve" found in that tome are not only truly the prophesies of Caine or his childer but are the keys to safety.

　The members of the cult reason that if they can either control or destroy the last daughter of Eve, they can prevent Gehenna's occurrence as simply as one can prevent the opening of a locked door by taking away the key. Other elders have acerbically pointed out that there are many ways to open a locked door, but the members of the Twilight cult insist that it is possible to divert the path of history through small, but crucial, eliminations and changes. After all, this method has worked quite adequately with canaille, neonates, princes and the like. The Twilight cultists maintain that other elders are simply incapable of the keen understanding required to recognize which pawns are most crucial in the game. Capturing the correct piece may mean the difference between check and mate.

　The Twilight cult was originally formed by Ventrue and Tremere elders to determine to what people this woman would be born and the most reliable method of monitoring the kine populace to locate any mortal female who bears the mark of Eve: the crescent moon. There is some debate amongst the elders regarding the exact form the symbol will take, as the Toreador elder, Alyana, clearly showed in her treatise on the symbols of Gehenna. Certain ones claim that the crescent moon actually refers to a woman born with certain psychic powers. Some elders interpret the crescent moon reference as symbolic of Numina. Others say the mark will take the form of a peculiar, crescent-shaped aura emanating from the Chosen One.

　Most cultists, however, feel the crescent-shaped birth-mark is the most probable form of the outer manifestation. Thus, the members of the cult today have operatives stationed in hospitals to keep track of any females born with such a hark. In recent years, the cult has retrieved other records through the electronic superhighway, constantly scanning for any information on a woman marked with the crescent.

　Two hundred years ago a powerful vampire claiming to be a Ravnos elder approached members of the cult in Paris with startling information. The vampire insisted that the Romani, or Gypsies, were the most likely people to produce this daughter of Eve.

　When questioned by a panel of cult leaders, the Ravnos produced a startling amount of "evidence" - perhaps non-evidence would be a better term - regarding the Gypsies. He pointed out that the Romani had been remarkably adept at keeping information about themselves away from not only mortals but from vampires as well. Yet at certain key points in history Gypsies were invariably present, though they did not seem to have a direct effect on the proceedings. Somehow, their presence went almost unnoticed by Kindred and kine alike save as mere nuisances or raggle-taggle gawkers.

　Asked for proof of his unusual notions, the mysterious elder remarked that he had none. Gypsies kept no paperwork and other peoples always seemed to overlook the Romani in their writings, save to call them pests and criminals. At this point the panelists were almost certain that the mysterious visitor was actually a Malkavian elder attempting to pull some sort of prank on them. Then, just as the "Ravnos" elder prepared to depart, he asked the panel: "If what I have told you has no relevance, why are there no references to the Romani in your precious Book of Nod? How has one group of kine escaped your immortal scrutiny?"

　This provoked the elders into studying the Gypsies. The more they attempted to define and categorize the Romani, the more they felt their strange visitor might have been correct. At first the cult merely attempted to monitor the Gypsies as it did the other peoples of the world. However, they eluded such scrutiny with ridiculous ease. Unused to the cult's machinations being foiled by mere kine, the panel met again and much debate ensued.

　Despite the Gypsies' elusiveness, the elders had managed to gain some information that did seem to point towards the Gypsies being somehow marked by fate. The cult's conviction that the last daughter of Eve was to be born to the Rom increased when one elder overheard a tale of a woman named "Evania" (which loosely translates to "daughter of Eve") from whom the Gypsies were apparently descended.

　The cult decided to destroy the Gypsies, reasoning that if there were none they could produce no daughter of Eve. The cult has attempted to manipulate governments into forcing Gypsies to settle in one place and even supported Hitler's plans to destroy the Romani along with the other objects of his hatred. Unfortunately, the Gypsies have some-how overcome all of the elders' carefully laid plans.

　The uncanny ability of this rather small populace of kine to elude the elders' best efforts has further convinced the members of the cult that the Gypsies are too dangerous to let live. Many insist that there must be other vampires, perhaps the Inconnu, protecting them in order to control the pawn whenever she is born.

　There are currently three factions within the Twilight cult, two of which maintain that the Gypsies will produce the last daughter of Eve. The first of these groups insists that the cult should continue its efforts at genocide, thus making a preemptive strike and keeping the pawn from ever being born. The second faction maintains that since all efforts to destroy the Gypsies have come to naught, attempting to monitor and control them, and the last daughter of Eve in particular, is the only viable option. The third, and newest, faction insists that the cult has focused overmuch on the Gypsies and that the mysterious elder probably was a Malkavian who has indeed successfully "pranked" the entire cult. After all, why would a Ravnos betray his own people? This is the faction that today monitors the hospitals and information networks of the kine, while the scope of the others' obsessive search has narrowed.



The Ninth Wave

　Founded: 1890
　Motto: Suffer Not a Witch to Live

　The members of the Ninth Wave (named after a Tennyson poem) believe that Gehenna will arrive when the magic in the world reaches a critical level which they term "the Flood" or "the second Flood. "According to cult doctrine, the Antediluvians are currently handicapped by their own power. They are forced into torpor by the dearth of magical energies available in the current reality.

　Should the amount of magic increase, however, the Antediluvians will be able to wake once again and bring on Gehenna. The cult also believes that the newly arisen Antediluvians will need to feed on the blood of the elders to maintain their strength and complete their escape from torpor.

　According to these elders, the Masquerade does more than just hide the existence of the Kindred from the canaille. lt also keeps the existence of vampires removed from the humans' active conception of reality (as the Tremere put it), thus helping to maintain the mortal public's credulity about matters strange or magical.

　The Ninth Wave has a threefold plan for averting Gehenna. The first part involves aggressively maintaining the Masquerade by destroying any vampires who break its conventions. The Ninth Wave loathes the Sabbat and their methods, believing they only bring the destruction of all Kindred ever closer and refuses membership to any elders of the Black Hand.

　Secondly, the cult is determined to destroy most of the Earth's mages and thus keep them from opening the eyes of other mortals to other realities. Only the Technomancer shave the backing of these elders, although only a few such mages actually know of this support. Most of the cult's aid comes in the form of funding for their laboratories, government cover-ups of Technocracy activities and revealing the location of Tradition mage Chantries.

　The third prong of the cult's attack centers on the destruction of the sidhe, or faeries. The cult is particularly vigorous in its pursuit of any information involving the return of faeries to the world. Cult members are certain that this return, which they also call the Ninth Wave, will herald the beginning of the end: Gehenna.

　Pointing to certain sections of the Book of Nod as well as to their own theories on the nature of torpor and vampiric power, these cultists are utterly convinced of the veracity of this claim. They are driven to root out any faeries currently on Earth, as well as to discover any possible routes from the faerie realm of Arcadia (or Avalon as some elders call it). Whenever the they discover such pathways they magically close, entrap or otherwise neutralize them.

　Many members of the cult believe that advance faerie troops, or at least scouts, are currently active on the planet. Such faeries, or "changelings" as they are called, somehow enter unsuspecting mortal homes and are raised as mere humans. These changelings are remarkably adept at hiding from vampiric observation, although when the Ninth Wave discovers such beings it terminates them immediately.

　The Ninth Wave collects information on faeries, ranging from current eyewitness accounts to ancient fairy tales and legends. Whenever the group hears reports of potential faerie activity, one or more members investigate. The members of the Ninth Wave are among the most learned of elders in matters involving magic and faerie lore.

　The cult maintains an extensive library in the Scottish city of Edinburgh that contains numerous magical tomes; ancient manuscripts; vials of mage, Lupine and faerie blood for experimentation purposes; and a complete map of the Earth's ley lines. Certain of the cult's members are convinced the pattern of ley lines, if properly deciphered, is the key to determining all possible points of ingress and egress from Arcadia. If they can determine how to manipulate the lines, the elders are certain they can permanently cut off Arcadia from the Earth. Then the cult would need only destroy the faeries trapped on Earth and the threat of Gehenna would be significantly lessened, if not removed entirely.




Cult of Enlightenment

　Founded: 510
　Motto: Rise

　The Cult of Enlightenment is one of the smallest of the active Gehenna cults. Most of its members are ancient, even for elders. In fact, much of the cult's membership is currently in torpor.

　The cult believes that the only reliable method of keeping Gehenna from occurring is for some form of semi-universal enlightenment to occur. The original protagonists of this theory were a triad composed of an elder from each of the Salubri, Tzimisce and Nosferatu clans. None of these elders has been seen in more than a millennium, and it is unknown if they are still active, in torpor or destroyed.

　When the cult first formed, the members attempted to meet with all manner of enlightened beings. Conversations with Tibetan monks, aborigine wise women, powerful mages, elder Lupines and other seekers of knowledge-with-understanding produced a variety of impressions on the meaning of enlightenment to both the individual and to the world as a whole. The triad recorded these conversations and their resulting hypotheses on a series of scrolls, whose exact number has been variously recorded as eight, nine and 13.

　Modern vampiric scholars do not know the true number of scrolls of enlightenment. The cult claims to have three of the original scrolls in its possession, and its members are constantly searching for more. A number of cultists believe that certain mages are in possession of some of the scrolls, and they are attempting to discover the truth of the matter. It has also been rumored that the canaille association known as the Arcanum has one of the scrolls. The current leaders of the Cult of Enlightenment hope this is not the case or, if it is, that the scroll contains no direct references to the Kindred.

　In the past the Cult of Enlightenment has worked hand in hand with other like-minded individuals towards the spiritual awakening of intelligent beings of all sorts. In particular, they encourage new vampires to join the cult, and to proceed from there to Golconda. For many centuries members of the cult had great success at achieving this enlightened state. Today, however, the number of cultists reaching Golconda has dropped dramatically, and some of those reported successes may very well be shams. This marked decline is due to a combination of two factors.

　The first important change occurred near the start of the Inquisition, when several prominent members of the cult were destroyed after broaching the topic of enlightenment with certain high-ranking members of the Church. Instead of achieving a new understanding of Western culture, the vampires merely confirmed their existence to the rabid hunters. This incident still causes many elders to speak disparagingly of the Cult of Enlightenment, and since then its members have gradually become more insular. Today, few attempt to bring other elders into the fold. They are willing to allow those who make the effort to join the group but rarely initiate such a process.

　The second, and more important, reason for the cult's decline is that much of the current membership is not truly interested in enlightenment. Such members espouse the general philosophy of the cult but actually joined to find some way of holding onto or even reclaiming some of their Humanity. They are terrified that they will soon lose the battle to keep the Beast in check, and that the only salvation is to show caring for others. Of course, as the reason behind this attempt is utterly self-centered, it is inevitably doomed.

　These desperate elders today make up the majority of the cult's membership and may well bring about the end of the Cult of Enlightenment along with their own existence if they are not driven out by the ever-shrinking percentage of members who are truly attempting to aid all beings in reaching enlightenment.