Lancea et Sanctum

The Lancea Sanctum are one of the major covenants in Vampire: The Requiem. More than any other Kindred, the "Sanctified," as they call themselves, embrace the theocracy of modern religions. In the neo-feudal political stucture vampires have made for themselves, the Lancea Sanctum represent the Catholic Church, painting themselves as the moral authority for the whole world.

Members of this covenant acknowledge they have been cursed by God. But they also point out that unlike the Devil, they were not cast into Hell. Instead, they walk the modern nights with their free will intact. They were even blessed with special abilities including Disciplines, powers of the blood (such as healing and physical agumentation) and immortality. And, through the curse, they are forced to prey on God's children to survive.

Thus the Kindred of the Lancea Sanctum conclude that they are to serve as object lessons to humanity; they are the price of sin. By preying on mortals they remind them that life is fleeting and nothing compares to the Heaven the worthy attains. To this end, the Sanctified zealously bear the weight of damnation as they revel in their monstrous nature, knowing that they are part of God's Great Plan. They see the Glory of Heaven as the ulimate carrot for humanity's salvation and they as the ultimate stick.

Roman Era
The Sanctified trace their origin to a passage in the Bible when a Roman soldier stabbed Jesus Christ with his spear while the Savior was being crucified. Thus the name of the covanent, Lancea Sanctum, or "sanctuary of the lance." What the Bible doesn't say is that some of the blood of Christ fell into the mouth of the soldier, whose name was Longinus, and thus he became a vampire. In mortal life, Longinus celebrated every sin to its fullest extent. He was violent, arrogant, lazy and cruel. He would gamble away his mother's earnings, insult her in public and, on one occasion, rape her. As a Roman soldier, he disobeyed orders, abused his authority even killed a superior. It was only through the Hand of God that he was able to keep his position so he could fulfill his destiny.

After the Embrace and a 33 year long "sabbatical," Longinus visited the tomb of Christ to confirm that the body was no longer there. Upon this verification, the Archangel Vahishtael appeared before him and told him his role in God's plan. Longinus would then later Embrace at least one mortal, Monachus, who gave the founder an education. The two oversaw that others accepted Longinus's words with equal devotion; the first five would later give their unlives to the cause and become known as the Five Martyrs. One of them, St. Daniel would perish as he rained down the powers of Theban Sorcery upon some particularly evil Romans. It is this Discipline that the young covenant discovered in Thebes that became the signature power of the organization and a great assest in the centuries ahead.

In 335, Longinus and Monachus founded the Black Abbey. It acted as the first place that the covenant claimed as its own to accept new converts. It also housed important relics, such as the Spear of Destiny, the very same weapon Longinus used to enter damnation, and the Testament of Longinus, five books of history, laws and prophecy the founder wrote over the centuries. Presumably, the Sanctified also researched Theban Sorcery there. In 947, the Abbey witnessed a betrayal that ended with it destroyed, the Spear missing and Monachus a victim of Amaranth. The Night of One Hundred Martyrs was the last time anyone ever saw the Spear.

Since the Sanctified did not rely on Monachus as a spiritual authority (that honor goes to the local Bishop), members turned inwards for ways to strengthen the covenant. Each hold of Sanctified considered itself to be an abbey of sorts, a tactic that insures against attack and continues to this night. Over the centuries that followed, the Lancea Sanctum grew by leaps and bounds and today encompasses many faiths from all over the world.

Modern Nights
While Catholics, and more generally Christians, make up most of the covanent's membership, other monotheistic religions have also found a place. They integrate with the covanent by focusing on the overall message of Longinus and supplimenting it with their faiths' rituals and beliefs. Muslim Sanctified might make prays to the covanent's founder while facing Mecca, for example. The Sanctified continue to attract Kindred of all clans and ages.