Bloodless Pilgrims

A vampire who doesn’t drink blood is impossible, or at least not long for this world. Whether they subsist on humans or animals, someone needs to bleed for the Kindred to survive. The Bloodless Pilgrims claim they’ve found another way. They say their founder, Benedict Hutter, has not consumed blood for over three decades, and when he cuts himself, a clear, tasteless liquid flows as proof.

Many are skeptical, but the young and the guilty are desperate to believe. Hundreds have joined Hutter’s pilgrimage around the world, traveling from city to city to share the revelation of a bloodless path. Strict indoctrination turns members into true believers in the sin of blood, preparing them for Hutter’s horrific alternative to the traditional way the Kindred sustain their unlives.

Overview

Hutter tells his followers of revelations received in a time of personal failing, of passages found in the Old Testament and the Torah, and of insights he gleaned from the writings of ancient Kindred in the nebulous far-off East. The story of the movement’s origins is entirely fictional, but it was enough to convince his first followers. Clanless and sireless, Hutter branded himself as a quiet mystic, promising a better life for young vampires frightened of becoming as monstrous as their elders. He hung the core tenet of his movement—that drinking blood was the source of a vampire’s monstrosity—on kosher and halal dietary traditions, recruiting heavily from Kindred who had been members of the Jewish and Muslim communities in life.

Before teaching anyone his path, Hutter spent years indoctrinating his first apostles. The group lived in rural villages, poaching farm animals and hunting wild game. When they returned to civilization, Hutter and a handful of the Kindred whom he’d left with could perform his bloodless miracle. The remaining pilgrims haven’t been seen since.

Convictions of the Bloodless Pilgrims

Oblivious to Hutter’s true intentions, members of the Bloodless Pilgrims adopt Convictions around the scripture of the order, gradually adapting their views of morality as the cult draws them further in.

• Never drink the blood of humans. The founding Conviction for entering the Bloodless, most potential members already feel this way before they hear about the order and choose to join to find another way to survive.
• Always commit penance after touching blood. Whether held over from mortal religious beliefs or learned through indoctrination, members of the Bloodless shun blood—human and animal—in all its forms. Members who still rely on animal blood to survive often commit themselves to penance after each feeding, though scripture forgives them for their failings until they are able to learn to survive without it.
• Pray once every night, without fail. Any Kindred without Clear Blood is tainted, and only dedication to ritual and scripture will bring purity. Postulants and novitiates connect to their beliefs through hours and hours of prayer; the cult sets no minimum, but encourages members to stay consistent despite any obstacles they encounter.

Kindred interested in joining the Bloodless must drink only animal blood for at least six months. Those outside the cult tend to view its members through the lens of this initial requirement, seeing them as feeble farmers on a ridiculous path to nowhere. Called the Sacrament of Lesser Sin, this period tests would-be Pilgrims’ willpower, ensuring they can commit to the cause. Vampires undergoing the first sacrament travel with the group when they move on, and the cult expects them to tend to their material needs if contact with the kine is necessary. A slip-up during this phase, such as drinking or even touching the blood of a human or another vampire, necessitates a two-week period as a blood slave and feeding vessel to a higher-ranking vampire, and restarts the six-month probationary period.

Postulants who complete the Sacrament of Lesser Sin become novitiates. Their strict diet continues, but they are also made to drink from the vein of one of the fully purified cult members once a week. This creates a Blood Bond, with the union marking the Sacrament of Devotion. For at least a year, novitiates drink from their mentor and study the cult’s scripture, completing daily prayers and meditations on the subject of blood and sin. Gradually, the text and prayers they are exposed to speak less of how blood is a source of sin and more of how blood is the only sin, with all other acts permitted.

The cultists make exceptions to the rule against touching blood to teach novitiates Blood Sorcery, which is required for their eventual ascension, though they still ban Rituals that require its consumption. The novitiate stage is known to be the most taxing for members, and Hutter takes novitiates aside regularly to test them on their progress and discuss their devotion. Many leave the order immediately after such an aside, rarely stopping to say goodbye to anyone before disappearing.

When Hutter deems a novitiate worthy, they are initiated into the Sacrament of Clear Blood. The secret to a bloodless life lies in harnessing death directly, without the need for blood as an intermediary, and Hutter has invented a means of doing just that. The Blood Sorcery the Bloodless use is no less destructive to the kine than the traditional method, but it does leave them free of the red taint they call sin. It also transforms their Vitae into something else, something vulnerable, and even the highest apostles are unaware of Hutter’s true purpose in devising and spreading the ritual.

Gallery

References

VTM: Forbidden Religions, p. 67