First Blood

To all outside appearances, First Blood is a nomadic Sabbat pack. Consisting of anywhere from four to six Cainites (depending on recent events), it seems to behave as any similar pack would be expected to. What the rest of the Sabbat doesn’t know is that First Blood is actually a mobile cult of Xalosines with an unusual interpretation of the doctrine.

Unlike the majority of Xalosine Kindred, First Blood’s members believe they can best learn to control and understand the Beast by unleashing it at every available opportunity — not merely under controlled conditions — and allowing it to run wild. By observing their own frenzied behavior, as well as that of their packmates, they believe they will gain a greater understanding of how the Beast affects vampires physically, psychologically and emotionally.

Of course, frenzy isn’t a neat or safe habit to get into. Rather than cause random destruction and the deaths of many of the mortals whom the cult is actually devoted to helping, First Blood vigorously hurls itself into any and every violent confrontation available. Since the Cainites they encounter are not of Xalosek, and therefore aren’t working to remove the taint of evil from mankind, no harm is done to the cause by killing them off in obscene numbers.

First Blood is led by the Ventrue antitribu Chloe Edison, ductus, and the Tzimisce Jebediah Peacock, pack priest. The pair has been together for nearly a century, an astonishing unlifespan for active Sabbat soldiers. Both have been offered higher positions in the sect, and both have turned them down in order to continue their Xalosine work. Jebediah’s sire was one of Amanda Attenborough’s first converts, and the priest maintains a fanatic devotion to Xalosek far stronger than his loyalty to the Sabbat itself. Edison, although just as faithful, is a bit calmer and more rational in her devotion and has prevented Jebediah from talking his way into serious trouble on more than one occasion. The pair of Cainites, and most of their underlings, truly believe that their frequent frenzies are slowly but surely guiding them toward a complete understanding of the Beast. Because of this, they’re perhaps overly anxious to snap its chains. They’ve developed a reputation for berserk brutality even among other Sabbat packs, who normally steer clear of First Blood during combat.

History
First Blood didn’t begin as a cult of Xalosek. It was originally a normal Sabbat war pack, led by a sadistic Brujah antitribu called Luther. It spent years terrorizing Camarilla towns in the American West in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Some of the local princes even put up wanted posters with Luther’s face on them, hoping that the proffered reward would inspire some hapless mortal to hunt him down. The kine would die horribly, of course, but at least he might lead the Camarilla sheriffs to the pack.

When Luther was assigned a new priest, he didn’t really even notice; the Brujah had never been much for the ritual aspects of Sabbat existence. Jebediah Peacock had been born in this part of the world decades earlier but had spent most of his time post-Embrace in the Old World. It was there that he learned the doctrines of Xalosek from his sire, and he was ready to put them to use now that he’d come home.

Slowly, Peacock began to question the other members of First Blood, seeking those who might prove amenable to the ways of Xalosek. He found one; Amanda Edison, Luther’s second, who was seeking some sort of meaning in the constant violence and bloodshed. She found it in the Tzimisce’s preaching and quickly became a devout convert.

Luther was not particularly well liked by his pack, and it wasn’t difficult for Peacock and Edison to turn the others against him. Luther met a grisly end, his ashes sprinkled over the American desert. As ductus, Edison arranged over the years to have all her packmates who wouldn’t convert either transferred or “lost in battle.” Tonight, the pack consists entirely of devout Xalosines who use their Sabbat activities to cover their true purpose and to explain their constant frenzies.

Reference

 * Vampire The Masquerade - State of Grace, p. 96, 97