Taken from the secret journals of Aalim ibn Habiba, Assamite mystic and lorekeeper:

What I would tell you, you would call blasphemy. You would take rocks
and stone me. I have discovered horrible secrets, secrets which would
consume you like flames. These truths are inescapable. In my search to
uncover the truth about our kind I have found far more than our Fathers
would have any of us know. My very act of writing these words is a
danger to the blood within me.

Aalims text ends there. As much as we have was recovered by Marcus the Saint, a
Brujah scholar of the late Renaissance, at the turn of the 16
th
century from a library that
appears to have been burned in the Fourth Crusade. The text is dated to approximately
1150 CE.

Aalim claimed to be the son of the legendary Habiba al-Sikkeen. (The legitimacy of this
claim is unknown, as his only known progeny, Rashid ibn Musafir, did not take his name,
but rather anothers.) A disciplined vizier, he investigated the history of his clan in great
detail, and was led, apparently, to pen down these documents.

Aalim appears to be referencing the Gospel according to Saint Thomas:

If I tell you of one of the things which he [Jesus] told me, you will gather
rocks and stone me. But a fire will come forth from the rocks and
consume you (13).

While this is interesting, I can find no discernible use to make of this fact.

What Marcus found along with this puzzling text was Aalims attempt to reconstruct the
events of the First and Second Cities. He included what he believed to be the most
accurately constructed genealogy of the Ancient Ones. Sections of it were lost, but some
remained.

Marcus apparently brought the documents that interested him back to his home in
Austria. Not long after, of course, Vienna was besieged, and Marcus fled, bringing the
stolen treasures he retrieved from Judea with him. The texts wound up in the hands of
Sir Walter Pierce, the Toreador nobleman, around 1720. Since then they have been kept
in the Apocalyptic Library of the Occult at Cambridge.

It was not easy to obtain the texts of Aalim. Their existence is not common knowledge,
and access to them (along with the rest of the Apocalyptic texts) is tightly restricted. But
I was commissioned some years back to do a study of vampirism in the Rabbinic
tradition and was able to gain access to the Apocalyptic Library. (Note: the suspicion
that the Jewish scholar Josephus was the childe of Sammael, the son of Saulot, remains
unsubstantiated.)

By no means is Aalims attempt at a First City genealogy complete or authoritative. It is,
however, the piece that I have chosen to concentrate on in my studies, though I have
drawn from other sources. I have been in contact with many scholars and researchers.
Some were easier to find and more cooperative than others, but I sought to approach the
issue from every possible angle. From that eclectic position I arranged what I thought
was the most accurate and accountable version of this complicated issue.

My reasons for engaging in this project are many and varied, and not at all the same as
when I began. My study is completely nonpartisan and is intended neither to elevate nor
to defame any particular group, sect, or clan. Rather, my intention is to shed some light
on the greatest debate of our kind throughout history.


Padraic Connelly
son of Ailean Connelly
Clan McCullough of Ulster, Ireland
House Aodh, Clan Toreador
Associate Scholar of Ancient Lore
by commission of His Grace George Mithras
23 September, 1996



(Methodological note: It becomes necessary, in the course of this study, to identify
vampires in the order in which they received the Embrace, and who bestowed it upon
them. That is, an ordering from sire to childe is needed. I have taken the term
generation to use in this manner, such that the first vampire was the first generation,
his childer were the second generation, and so forth. This terminology, although not
formally adopted by any group, has been widely used and may be familiar to some
audiences.)

In the Saxon epic, Beowulf, the narrator tells of a primordial evil born of Cain, a line of
creatures punished forever for the crime of Abels death. The Curse put on Cain by
Iehova was hereditary, according to the Saxon priests, and spread his evil throughout the
world for centuries to follow.

Cain, whom we call Caine, was the first son of Adam and Eve, according to the Hebrew
Bible, and his name means to acquire in ancient Hebrew. His brother Abels name
means keeper. The Taker slew the Keeper and was punished by God.

(Note: Caines name has various spellings in the different world languages. Sometimes
he is called Kain or Kaine, at times Kaen, and even, by our Islamic brothers, Khayyan.or
Khayyin. I will use the traditional spelling of our kind, Caine.)

Very young Kindred have little or no conception of the history of our kind. They are not
indoctrinated to the legends of the First and Second Cities or the Ancient Ones. But my
discussion of the legend will be brief.

We assume the first vampire to be Caine. His Curse is the Curse of Vampirism. In the
First City, Enoch, he Embraced a few mortals, mostly out of loneliness. They in turn
Embraced a number of mortals, the Third Generation. When the Great Flood came,
Caine disappeared, and his childer and grandchilder were left to rule in the Second City.
The Third Generation went on to found the Clans.

Interestingly enough, this is not the only theory as to the origins of vampirism. There are
certain groups of Kindred who draw not upon the Bible, but upon the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Epic includes a flood similar to that of the Great Flood of Noah, but there is a
survivor named Utnapishtim. He is blessed by the gods with immortality. This excerpt is
from a document reconstructed in the Apocalyptic Library from sixth-century Palestine:

The Great Father Utanapishtim had outwitted the gods and escaped their
wrath. For his cunning, he was found deserving of a gift; for his hubris, a
curse. Thus he was granted the ambivalent gift-curse of the Walking
Dead. Eternally living, eternally dying.

For purposes of this study, the name of the first vampire is unimportant. Nor is it
important to know which story of the Flood to believe. This study is not concerned with
the legend behind vampirism, but only the spirit of the myth. Therefore the only
assumption necessary is that all vampires are descended from a single individual. For
purposes of convenience and familiarity, I will continue to call this individual Caine.

It is not at all common knowledge, but I have found that almost all authoritative and
credible sources agree on the fact that Caine Embraced at least three individuals. These
Second Generation vampires are most commonly called Enoch, Irad, and Zillah, after the
son and grandson of Caine and the wife of Lamech, descendent of Caine. Enoch (called
in Hebrew Ynosh) is by some believed to actually be Lamech.

As stated above, the actual identities of these individuals are unnecessary detail. I will
continue to call the three Second Generation vampires Enoch, Irad, and Zillah.

All of the Kindred of Third Generation and above have epithets to identify them by.
Caine is naturally known as the Father or the First. Enoch is called the Wise; Irad the
Strong; and Zillah the Beautiful. These epithets are important in gleaning what we can
about the personalities of these individuals. It is natural instinct to seek out those whose
personality characteristics match ones own when giving the Embrace, so it is important
to keep in mind the basic personae of Enoch the Wise, Irad the Strong, and Zillah the
Beautiful.

As has become popular in recent nights, a distinction must now be drawn between a
Clan and a bloodline. For purposes of this study, a Clan has (or had) a single
founder, or progenitor, of the Third Generation. A bloodline is founded by one or more
Kindred of the fourth generation or lower. The current state or ultimate fate of the
founder or founders is unimportant. (For example, it is considered that Saulot was killed
and consumed by Tremere, but his progeny, the Salubri, shall be called a Clan rather than
a bloodline.)

Here is where the information becomes difficult to track down. The names of the Third
Generation Kindred are difficult to identify, but we can glean an impression of who they
were. Aalim includes this list in his genealogy:

And those grandchildren of the First were thirteen in number. They were
the Blossom, [the] Moon, the Serpent, the Shad[ow], the Believer, the
Scholar, the [?], the Hunter, the Hidden, [the P]ilgrim, the Dragon, the
Wolf, and [?]. These were the Fathers of the lines to come. All
Kin[dred] stem from these [grandchildren] of the Father.

Unfortunately, the list is not entirely complete, as parts of this document were damaged
or lost. But we can compare this list to those medieval documents we have detailing the
clans of that age. The High Clans in particular (those in the position of power during the
Dark and Middle Ages) left rather reliable documents. The Ventrue scholars identified
themselves as brothers in Royalty to the Clan of Dragon Kings, and the Lasombra
scholars often refer to the Clan of Death.

This is consistent with most of the mythology we have been handed down today. The
original Third Generation, then, would have been the founders of the following Clans:
Toreador, Malkavian, Setite, Lasombra, Salubri, Brujah, Cappadocian, Assamite,
Nosferatu, Ravnos, Tzimisce, Gangrel, and Ventrue.

After identifying the original thirteen clans, of course, it is necessary to give names to
their founders. Common lore names most of the founders with the same names as their
Clans. But most scholars claim another name for their Clans founders. Not all of them,
however, agree on the identity.

Most Malkavians name their founder Malkav. Some, however, call him
Melekh (alternate spelling, Malakh). Some Tzimisce scholars identify Melekh
specifically as a childe of Enoch, one who played shadow games with mortals.

The Setites, or Followers of Set, as they call themselves, obviously call
Set their progenitor. Those who understand older dialects of Egyptian often call
him Sutekh. Some Setites, however, claim that Set was the progenitor of all
Kindred, rather than Caine.

The Salubri founder is commonly named Saulot. His name is present in
much lore and is relatively undisputed. In addition, there are Eastern texts which
refer to Zaulot, enlightened one of the West.

There is much dispute over the founder of the Clan Toreador. Some name
her Arikel, and others Ishtar (or Astarte or Inanna, all of which are the same
name). The Setites claim that their progenitor killed Arikel with the help of the
Nosferatu progenitor.

The Nosferatu have an interesting story, related to me by a French scholar:

While many name our clan founder Nosferatu, this is actually a fallacy.
Nosferatu was one of two brothers, the other named Nicktuku. They were
the progeny of Absimiliard, the true Nosferatu founder. Nosferatus line
became, centuries back, much more prominent than Nicktukus, and so we
take our name from him.

The Assamites name their founder Haqim. This is often
mispronounced, according to them, as Assam or Hassam. Some believe
that Haqim is of the Second Generation, a claim that will be investigated later.

The Gangrel founder is typically named Ennoia by her progeny. Calling
her Gangrel is common, but a misnomer by almost all scholarly opinion. Many
Gangrel consider calling her Gangrel offensive.

Most call the Ravnos founder Ravnos. There is tale of a Kindred named
Ravana. Whether or not these two are the same person, and what Generation each
of them belonged to, is highly disputed.

Clans Tzimisce, Brujah, and Lasombra all identify their founders by their
Clan names, although some claim that Troile was the founder of the Brujah,
others Ilyes. The founder of Clan Ventrue is never named in any source I could
find. He is simply referred to the Noble in most archaic literature.

Obviously, there are no Cappadocian scholars still living, since the entire
Clan was destroyed in the Purge by the Giovanni. There are two characters,
however, identified as founders of the Clan of Death in medieval literature:
Ashur and Cappadocius.

We must now consider each of these characters as an individual and as relates to the
cohesive whole. But first, now that we have identified the Clan founders (at least in some
sense), let us return to the question of the Second Generation.

Three individuals have been identified as almost certainly the childer of Caine. But the
lore kept by certain scholars and mystics claims that there could be more many more, in
fact. Some Ventrue scholars, for instance, insist that Caine had six childer.

The most famous of these extra Second Generation Kindred is the Crone. The
Crone is said to have been given the Embrace after the other three childer after Caine
left his childer behind. The Crone is sometimes called Lillith, which is certainly a
misnomer. Lillith, the first wife of Adam, was, according to the Noddian lore,
something akin to a human Mage.

Noddian lore makes mention of a King and Queen, known as Khe-duk and Liada.
Some sources identify Khe-duk as a Second Generation Kindred and Liada as his
childe; others identify them both as progeny of Caine.

Some older documents make reference to a childe of Caine called Dracian, sire of
both Ravana and Ennoia. The old Ravnos called Dracian Ravnos.

In all honesty, the stories of Dracian and the Crone are unlikely at best. The sources in
which they are found are few and far between, and no credible evidence exists to attest to
their presence in Enoch (where all of the Clans were allegedly founded). Not even the
Ravnos seriously claim the existence of Dracian anymore, and one Gangrel writer had the
following to say about the issue:

The rivalry between Clan Gangrel and Clan Ravnos is only accentuated
by the fact that our respective founders, Ennoia and Ravana, were most
probably sisters. Wouldnt it be nice for one Clan if they could lay claim
to a founder of a higher generation, thus proving themselves to be the
original Wanderer Clan. Dracian exists to serious scholars simply as
another attempt by a bored Ravnos to pull one over on our entire Clan.

The complete lack of a reasonable identity for the Crone gives us reason to doubt her
existence. There is no solidly believable story of the Second City events that includes
her. Furthermore, her confusion with the demon-witch Lillith is additional disproof of
her existence. Lillith was most definitely not a Kindred, and the Crone may be a
bastardization of her legend. If the character of the Crone ever existed, she certainly was
not a childe of Caine, if she was a vampire at all.

The existence of the King and Queen of Nod is more questionable. They are an integral
part of the story of the Second City. But there is no mention of them ever being in the
First City, which is where they must have received the Embrace. There is much
Assamite lore which claims that Haqim was the son of Khe-duk.

However, there are a few remaining pieces of Assamite literature, as well as a piece
recovered from the library of the Malkavian wiseman Shatter, all of which contain the
same story. It is told every time essentially as follows:

When the Hunter refused to intervene [in keeping the lower generations in
order], he was approached by his brethren. The Blossom first pleaded for
his help, but he refused. Then pleaded the Seer, but he again refused.
Finally, the Shaper of Souls approached him and pleaded, Please,
Brother, you must act as the judge for our children. For you are the only
one who can be trusted. None of usnot even myselfcan be trusted with
this task.

The term brethren is ambiguous, but it is believed to mean direct siblings. This is
substantiated by the fact that (as we will see later) the Blossom (Toreador), the Seer
(Malkavian), and the Shaper of Souls (Salubri) were all likely siblings in the Embrace.
The Hunter is the Assamite founder, Haqim, named for his mortal profession of a heroic
warrior. If the term brethren were meant to imply something wider, like cousins or
relatives, then others surely would have been included who were of other origin.

If Haqim was the brother of the Malkavian, Toreador, and Salubri founders, then he was
certainly not the progeny of a fourth or extra Second Generation Kindred. The King of
Nod, then, was most likely a pseudonym for the sire of these four founders. The King of
the Second City was originally Enoch, and thus he is the most likely to be this Khe-duk.
(We will see more evidence to support this later in the discussion of the births of the
Third Generation.)

Therefore there is no real reason to believe that Caine had any more than three childer. If
he did, they certainly had no effect on the spread of vampirism as we know it. Therefore
was can safely establish Caine as having these and only these progeny: Enoch the Wise
(also known as Enosh, Khe-duk, or the King of Nod), Irad the Strong, and Zillah the
Beautiful. If the Queen of Nod, Liada, actually was a vampire (which is questionable),
she was almost certainly the childe of Enoch, her lover, and she never Embraced any
further progeny.

So which Clan founders were sired by which Second Generation Kindred? Some are
easier to track down than others.

Malkavian lore keepers have expansive documents on what they believe to be the
accurate descriptions of their founder and his siblings. I managed to recover this story
from a document Shatter had in his possession:

The Wise One had far more insight than his brother and sister. He viewed
his Gift as a tool to immortalize the great Wisdom of those blessed with it.
And so the First Son sought out children who might have something to
offer the world for centuries to come. This is how he chose the twins.
First the Sister of Beauty, then the Brother of Truth. And upon their
rebirth into new and greater insight, they gave one another new names.
You shall be called Arikel the Rose, sister, said the brother, for your
beauty is surpassed only by your understanding of the beauty of that which
is to be seen. And you, brother, said the other, shall be called
Melekh the Mirror, because the reflection of the world in your eyes only
faintly suggests your deep understanding of that which cannot be seen.

The claim here is that Arikel and Melekh were the first two childer of Enoch the Wise
(who is clearly the First Son). When this story originated is uncertain, but shorter
versions of it exist in many other places. Apparently Arikel and Malkav (aka Melekh)
were twin brother and sister as mortals, and they were given the Embrace by Enoch at
around the same time, making them the two oldest of the Third Generation.

This claim seems to be rather credible. A lot of known lore supports it, especially
Malkavian lore. (In my studies I have found that, despite what other Clans say about
them, Malkavian lore keepers tend to be among the most thorough and credible. Of
course, as with any ancient stories, one must always be sure not to confuse the facts of
the story with the allegorical embellishments.)

Another relatively undisputed fact is that Saulot was a brother to these two. Historically
minded Salubri, Malkavian scholars, and even old Brujah texts all seem to agree on this
fact. He also fits with the motif Enoch is credited with having: that of giving the
Embrace to those with some sort of extraordinary insight.

It is thus easy to see now in the story of the Hunter and his brethren that Haqim was
actually the childe of Enoch. Although the persona of the Hunter does not seem to fit
with Enochs general modus operandi, the following story, taken from Aalim, offers
some explanation:

The Hunter was actually no such thing. In his mortal days he was a
war[rior] of great valor, but towards the end he grew weary [of battle].
He gave up his former life in search [of] scholarship. This scholarly
spark was recognized in him, and he was Gifted [with the Embrace]. The
youngest of [his fath]ers children, he was mocked by his brethren, who
named him the Hunter in spite of his new Path.

There is a story of Haqim defeating the King and Queen of Nod, Embracing himself with
their blood, and then devouring them. This act of the Amaranththe stealing of the soul
of Khe-dukwould mean that Haqim was of the Second Generation when he founded
Clan Assamite. Being, however, as he abandoned the Warrior Path before his Embrace,
and we have determined the King of Nod to be Enoch, this story is almost certainly
untrue. Haqim, like the other Clan founders, was of the Third Generation.

Here the placements become more difficult. Set in particular has the potential to fall into
multiple catgegories. His Clan would claim that Set is actually the progenitor of all
vampirism, not Caine, but this is essentially impossible given our assumptions.
Assuming that Set is of the Third Generation, then, there are two claims as to his origin.
Some scholars claim that he is the childe of Irad: the God of Storms and War would be a
likely candidate to receive the Gift from Irad the Strong.

The Setites and much Egyptian myth describe Set as having a brother, Osiris, and a sister,
Isis. A man of terrible power and insight, and a woman of beauty and magic, these two
figures are the two most powerful gods in Egyptian mythology, after the Father God Ra.
Allegorically, these two could be Malkav and Arikel. Additionally, the Salubri claim
relation to the Setites, some documents describing Saulot and Set as brothers in
Godhood, the same and yet unlike.

If we assume that the Queen of Nod was, in fact, a Kindred, then we must assume that
she was given the Embrace by Enoch after the Flood. This would make the progeny of
Enoch as follows, in the most likely order: Arikel, Malkav, Saulot, Set, Haqim, Liada.

There is one additional possibility which, although I personally disagree, I find worth
mentioning. We have established that Enoch was Khe-duk. There are some, as
mentioned earlier, who claim that Enoch was actually Lamech. Lamechs wife was
Zillah, and so it is possible to identify Liada, the Queen of Nod, as Zillah. I find it
unlikely that Enoch was Lamech, and am content with the above explanation of Liada
was Enochs childe.