-
“Some sepulchre, remote, alone,
Against whose portal she hath thrown,
In childhood, many an idle stone-
Some tomb from out whose sounding door
She ne'er shall force an echo more,
Thrilling to think, poor child of sin!
It was the dead who groaned within.”
THE SLEEPER
Edgar Allan Poe
The Old World Covenant is a secret society of European fiends - a brotherhood of occultists, cambions and revenants - united by the confraternity of the Walpurgis Night Sabbath. Lurking behind the scenes, they pull the strings of high society in Europe, playing games with the lives of mortal men. Every century in the ninetieth year, the bloodlines of the Covenant congregate together at a chosen place on the feast-night of Saint Walpurga, to commune with the Devil and prey on the local populace. -
The Old World Covenant is three centuries old, and thus three Walpurgis Night Sabbaths have been hosted since its inception. Each of these past gatherings have marked significant changes in the structure of the organization, from its initial founding in Eastern Europe, to its proper naming and expansion into Western Europe.
Tʜᴇ Fɪʀsᴛ Sᴀʙʙᴀᴛʜ
The first incarnation of the Old World Covenant was the Blood Pact on Lysa Hora, established in 1490 on Walpurgis Night, as part of a tenuous alliance between the Romanian vampire patriarch Vlad III Draculea, and Ukrainian werewolf matriarch Anja Vukovic. The First Walpurgis Night Sabbath was held on the summit of Lysa Hora, overlooking the city of Kiev in the Ukraine. Draculea and Vukovic negotiated the division of territory in Eastern Europe between their respective bloodlines, the Draculesti and the Vseslavichi. It was then agreed that the two bloodlines would reconvene in a hundred years time. During the passage of this century, the Blood Pact on Lysa Hora had begun to gain the attentions of other bloodlines in Western Europe, and a number of communications were exchanged with the objective of extending the Pact's influence over all the occult congregations of Europe.
Tʜᴇ Sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ Sᴀʙʙᴀᴛʜ
The Covenant-proper was named and established a century later in 1590 when, after many negotiations, the eastern houses were joined by the Ulfhednar and Moriendi bloodlines of Northern and Southern Europe. The chosen meeting place for the Second Walpurgis Night Sabbath was at the peak of the Brockenberg mountain in Germany. Lines were drawn to divide all of Europe into territories for the Covenant. The Draculesti made a vampiric alliance with the Moriendi brood, and the Vseslavichi committed their support to the Ulfhednar pack. With the deliberations out of the way, the Sabbath departed from the Brocken peak upon the midnight hour, descending upon the nearby town of Wernigrode to seal the alliance with a celebratory feast of blood.
Tʜᴇ Tʜɪʀᴅ Sᴀʙʙᴀᴛʜ
The last of the six undying bloodlines to enter the fold were the Aldestadt and Bisclavret families in 1690, on the Third Walpurgis Night Sabbath. This was the first Sabbath to be held in a great city rather than atop a remote mountain, as the Draculesti bloodline invited the Covenant to feast upon the people of Prague in their own central territory of Czechia. This began the new tradition of hosting the Sabbath in the midst of unsuspecting mortals.
-
The various sects, covens and bloodlines that make up the Old World Covenant have all sworn the same oath of dedication, that being to carry out the Devil’s work on earth. Thus every member of the Covenant has pledged to abide by a set of common laws that determine territorial divisions and resolve disputes or issues that may arise.
Tʜᴇ Lᴀᴡ ᴏғ Oᴄᴄᴜʟᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
By far the most important law of the Covenant is the Law of Occultation, often referred to simply as the Occultation. The Children of the Night must maintain a reasonable level of secrecy, in order that the superstitions of humankind never again reach the level of dangerous public hysteria. Suspicious deaths and disappearances must be concealed, and significant evidence of the supernatural must be destroyed. This law is in place to ensure that the witch-hunts, inquisitions and burning times of yesteryear never resurface again.
Tʜᴇ Lᴀᴡ ᴏғ Iɴᴄᴜʟᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
The Law of Inculcation restricts the number of neophyte vampires and werewolves that can be risen from the dead to join the ranks of the undead. This mitigates the amount of suspicious human casualties by limiting the population of supernatural predators. Within the six bloodlines of the Covenant, each brood or pack elder has the right to sire two new vampire fledglings or werewolf whelps per century, and these newly risen revenants must be presented to and inculcated into the Old World Covenant on the centennial Walpurgis Night Sabbath.
Tʜᴇ Lᴀᴡs ᴏғ Hᴀʙɪᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
The Laws of Habitation concern the hierarchical, territorial and hospitality rights of each brood, pack or coven owing fealty to the Covenant. Under these laws, a sect entering the territory of another sect must make their presence known to their hosts and comport themselves with respect, while hosts must respect guest-rights to provisional feeding and shelter. The elder of a given sect is held responsible for the actions of their progeny in another territory. Thus, elders have the right to destroy their own disobedient progeny.
-
