Cult of Isis (VTM)

The Cult of Isis is a blood cult dedicated to the highly syncretic worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis in a similar manner to New Age neopagan feminist movements, albeit in a way that broadly accounts for the presence of the supernatural in its many forms.

(For the affiliation with ties to the Amenti, see Cult of Isis)

History

The Cult of Isis has undergone several transformations in the years since its founding, revering Isis as Lilith, Isis as Hathor, Isis as Mary, Isis as Aquarius, and Isis as countless other deities or deific female figures. All celebrate fertility, life, and ceremonies of joining, making them an ostensibly strange cult for Kindred involvement, and indeed, for centuries they’ve operated with minimal vampiric intervention. Only in the age of Gehenna, with the open resurgence of Kindred faith, have vampires once again flocked to a religion that preaches veneration for health, magic, and marriage.

The Cult of Isis’ goal has broadly extended to the protection of abandoned fledglings, leading to a surge in Caitiff members. Unintentionally, its reverence of youth (in mortal and immortal terms) and the potency of Blood has created a swell in membership for this cult, and the elder members aren’t sure how to utilize this new army of angry youths, who all seem ready to fight someone or something. The cult has been based around protection and reaction to attacks on sacred places and people for so long, that the idea of dispatching a militia to take a site or eliminate an enemy is new to them.

These nights portend interesting times for the Cult of Isis, as they could prove to become kingmakers or domain breakers, depending on how they use their swathe of new recruits.

In the 2010s, the Cult stripped bare the Tremere chantry of Milwaukee.

Doctrine

From its early days to tonight, the Cult of Isis is a religion of empowerment. The cultists don’t recognize Isis as an individual so much as a concept, with many mortals focusing on Isis as nature and femininity, and vampires identifying Isis as the meaningful, compassionate Embrace, and guardianship over sacred and magical places. In the latter respect, the Cult is fiercely militant, protecting with homicidal ferocity those areas where mages can more efficaciously practice their arts, where the Shroud thins, and where the supernatural struggles to exist. They disdain areas of religious importance, however, reviling holy land and artifacts as much as any vampire.

While the Cult of Isis' cells have a shared name and agenda, little communication exists between the religion’s various groups. There is no central authority, and hierarchy changes from cell to cell, though some branches emulate the Bahari scale of seed, maiden, mother, and matron. Though some cells restrict membership based on gender, others find this attitude radical or outdated, leading to one of the only divides in the cult that causes inter-cell conflict.

References

• VTM: Beckett's Jyhad Diary
• VTM: Cults of the Blood Gods, p. 116