White Wolf Wiki
Advertisement

The Beast Within is a 1994 fiction anthology based on Vampire: The Masquerade. Each of the thirteen short stories examines kindred living in San Francisco. The publication includes illustrations from Timothy Bradstreet

Published in 2000, the second edition of The Beast Within included a mix of new material and reprints from the original anthology. 

Summary[]

From the Back Cover:

Unseen, The Kindred Move Among Us
Many human fears are realized in the World of Darkness. Among them are the vampires, who call themselves the Kindred because they are a breed set apart from man. But these vampires are not just mad beasts or solitary hunters. Completely hidden from human eyes by a plan the Kindred call the Masquerade is an entire society of vampires. The disputes and alliances that have formed this society have also built powerful nations and drug great men to their graves.
No place in the world of vampires is quite like San Francisco. It's a melting pot set outside the always arcane and dangerous dynamics of Kindred politics. But because of San Francisco's position as neutral territory, countless plots and mad plans are dreamt in and executed from The City. Herein are the beginnings and players for some of those unspeakable schemes.
The Beast Within contains stories of the Kindred in the World of Darkness by S.P. Somtow, Lois Tilton, Matthew Costello, Lawrence Watt-Evans and nine other authors, including several authors who have contributed to the development of the World of Darkness.

Contents[]

  • “The Scarlet Letters” by Scott H. Urban*+

A young woman discovers that her favorite poet has a close connection to the dark subject of his poems. 

A former priest takes it on himself to hunt down vampires that prey on the innocent.

Awoken from torpor, an Aztec priest comes to terms with the modern world and an old enemy. 

A Ventrue forensic scientist uses her position in the morgue to gain influence in kindred society. 

Tremere Don Benedict is tasked with maintaining control over Chinatown, in opposition to an invading Cathayan vampire. 

An elder monster tours San Francisco while looking for new prey to torture. 

A Toreador artist seeks to embrace a young painter before her poseur rivals can do it. 

Anastasia must return to the Tremere in order to save her lover from the Sabbat.

A homeless Caitiff finds himself introduced into kindred schemes and rivalries. 

Nosferatu Jeremy Wix returns from exile, but to be accepted he must confront old enemies.

  • “Undercover” by Matthew J. Costello*

A San Francisco police officer gets more than she expected when she makes contact with a vampire gang. 

  • “Prisons” by Shane Hensley

A police officer pursues a suspect right into The Alexandria Club. 

  • Lexicon
  • Tales from the Pack
  • White Wolf Signs Michael Moorcock

'*' Also included in the 2000 edition.

+Included in the "Strange City" (1996) anthology.

Background Information and Trivia[]

  • Several of the characters highlighted in these short stories also appear in "Dark Prince" (1994), "Prince of the City" (1995), "City of Darkness: Unseen" (1995) and "World of Darkness: Strange City" (1996).
  • Within some of the stories (The Scarlet Letters, Power, Darkening of the Light, Expendable, Homecoming: Affairs of the Heart, Masquerade, Prisons), a strange mangy dog appears. It should not be confused with Kyle's Dog Retainer from Expendable as it gets into a fight with that dog. Only in the story of Masquerade, that the dog's aura is described as angry blood red tinted with green and bursting with lifeforce. Probably hinting that the strange dog is some sort of Bone Gnawer or Reverend Hayes, the Garou character from Dark Prince and Prince of the City.
  • This is also one of the earliest uses of "May you live in interesting times" and an encounter with an Asian vampire way before the Kindred of the East setting.
  • San Francisco by Night was planned for release all the way back in 1992, but wasn't published until 2002. So the few major characters showing up in multiple stories featured in this novel can be sourced back to A World of Darkness.
  • Tales from the Pack lists upcoming anthology novels: When Will You Rage, Truth Until Paradox, and Borderlands 1 to 4.
  • The following short stories would be continued in the following anthology:
    • "The Art of Dying” to "Eye of the Beholder" by Lawrence Watt-Evans, “Interesting Times” to "Reconciliation" by Matt Forbeck and “Homecoming: Affairs of the Heart” to "Ruins" by James Moore in City of Darkness: Unseen.

Memorable Quotes[]

"Are you really James Dean?" "Dean's dead." - Masquerade

Continuity[]

The first Vampire short story anthology, featured numerous stories set at least partially in San Francisco. These stories introduced an error in continuity, however, as some stories referenced Prince Vannevar Thomas while others named the city's prince as Jochen Van Nuys. Several of these stories were reprinted in World of Darkness: Strange City, which attempted to reconcile this error by changing references to Jochen Van Nuys into references to Vannevar Thomas. However, in the Revised era, a different solution was found in San Francisco by Night, in which Van Nuys was revealed to have replaced Thomas as prince in 1996, and he himself was in turn later replaced by Sara Anne WinderThe Beast Within Revised Edition retained the references to Van Nuys as prince that were found in the original versions of the stories, implying that those stories happened after Van Nuys' coup.

Characters[]

  • The Scarlet Letters
    • Corrinda - Female Toreador
    • Ambrose Bierce - Toreador, Virgil's Sire
    • Virgil - Toreador, Corrinda's Sire
    • Prince Vannevar - Ventrue
  • Interesting Times
    • Father Paul Able - Vampire and Vampire Hunter
    • Marty Chin - Human, Knows of Vampires
    • Randy Elwood - Vampire, Staked and diableriezed by Paul
    • Gabrielle Allende - Died
    • Al - Vampire
    • Jesse Nicht - Female Vampire, Paul Able's Sire, diableriezed by Paul
    • Father Steve Singer - Human
    • Lodin
    • Tex R. Cainen - Toreador
    • Sebastian Melmoth
    • Tony, "Tone" - Vampire
    • Jasper - Vampire, destroyed
    • Mikey - Vampire, destroyed
  • The Voice of the Hummingbird
    • Huitzilopotchtli
    • Julia Epstein - Human, Museum Curator, Knows of Vampires, becomes Nezzy's Ghoul
    • Nezahualcoyotl, "Nezzy" - Vampire, Hortator's Sire
    • Hortator - Vampire
    • Travis - Vampire
  • Power
    • Emily Grange - Female Ventrue
    • John
    • Jean-Claude - Follower of Set
    • Constable Long - Human, Cop, Died
    • Lieutenant Barr - Human, Cop
    • "Doc" Michaels - Venture, Staked
  • Darkening of the Light
    • Don Benedict - Tremere
    • Lord Honerius - Tremere
    • Dowager - Female Nosferatu
    • Harris - Tremere, destroyed
    • Feng Sha, the Wind Killer, of Clan Yin Shan - Chinese Vampire, diableriezed by Benedict
  • Dancing with the Devil
    • Delfonso - Vampire
    • Juan - Delfonso's Ghoul
    • Domingo - Vampire, Delfonso's childe
    • Grandfather - Chinese Vampire
    • Sullivan - Vampire, Grandfather's childe
    • Christine, "Christy" - Human, Died
  • The Art of Dying
    • Bethany - 9th Gen. Toreador
    • Anton Prihar - Human Artist, Died
    • Allanyan Serata - 5th Gen. Toreador Primogen, Poseur, Stefan's Sire
    • Stefan - Toreador, Poseur
  • Descent
    • Anastasia, "Ana" - Female Tremere, Etrius' childe
    • Selena - Sabbat, Female Tremere Antitribu
    • Sofie - Human, Ana'a Lover, Died
    • Jeremiah - Toreador
    • Tabitha - Tremere
    • Etrius
    • Princess Victoria - Vampire
    • One-Who-Walks, "Zarastus" - Worshipped by Selena, Demon/Spirit
  • Expendable
    • Kyle - Catiff
    • Fang - Kyle's dog ghoul retainer
    • Vika - Female Nosferatu
    • Hervi - Tremere, Kyle's Sire, Staked
    • Sion - Tremere, Staked
  • Homecoming: Affairs of the Heart
    • Jeremy Wix, "Jeremy Wyzchovsky," "Jerry," "Jerr," "Pretty Boy" - Nosferatu
    • Dawson - Vampire
    • Todd Kingsley - Human, Died
    • Alicia White - Human, Maid
    • Anita Wyzchovsky - Human, Jeremy's Mother
    • Joseph Cambridge, "Joe" - Nosferatu, Jeremy's Sire
    • Donna Cambridge - Female Ventrue, Vannevar's Childe
    • Carlotta - Female Vampire
    • Darrius Stone - Follower of Set
  • Masquerade
    • Dirk - Anarch Vampire, leader of the gang; The Gutters
    • Joe - Anarch Vampire, The Gutters
    • Little Mick - Anarch Vampire, The Gutters
    • Veronica - Anarch Vampire, The Gutters
    • Philip Van Vermeer IV - Malkavian; guises: James, Philemon, Christine and Don Juan
    • Nickoli - Ventrue Primogen
    • Tobin Van Tuys - Venture
    • Giancarlo Giovanni - Human, Clan Giovanni
    • Tomaine - Brujah Primogen
    • Christine - Sabbat, Female Tzimisce
    • Brandt, "La Bamba" - Sabbat, Lasombra
    • Katie - Sabbat, Female Malkavian Antitribu
    • Spike "Wilfred" - Sabbat, Toreador Antitribu
    • Morgan - Sabbat, Panders
  • Undercover
    • Maria Rodriguez - Female Vampire
    • Captain Max Cameron - Human, Cop, Died
    • Mac - Vampire
  • Prisons
    • Sam - Human, Cop
    • Alice - Human, Ignatius Barnes' Ex-Wife
    • Ignatius T. Barnes, "Iggy Barnes" - Human, Officer, Narcotics Detective
    • James Slatter, "Jimmy" - Vampire
    • Giuseppe Renaldo, "Virus" - Vampire
    • Lieutenant Coleson - Human, Cop
    • Lieutenant Grange - Human, Cop
    • Spot - Ignatius Barnes' Dog
    • Alicia - Human, Ignatius Barnes and Alice's Kid
    • Angelino - Human, Past, Died
    • Seraphis - Vampire, Giuseppe's Sire
    • Gaston - Human, Past, Died

Terminology[]

Lexicon: Common Parlance: Anarch, The Barrens, The Becoming, Book of Nod, The Beast, Blood, Blood Kindred, Blood Oath, Brood, Caitiff, Childe, Clan, Diablerie, Domain, Elder, Elysium, The Embrace, Fledgling, Generation, Gehenna, Ghoul, Haven, The Hunger, Inconnu, The Jyhad, Kindred, Kiss, Lupine, Lush, The Life, The Man, The Masquerade, Prince, The Riddle, Rogue, The Sabbat, Sect, Sire, Vessel; Old Form: Amaranth, Ancilla, Antediluvian, Archon, Autarkis, Cainite, Canaille, Canaille, Cauchemar, Cunctator, Coterie, Consanguineus, Footpad, Gentry, Golconda, Humanitas, Kin, Leech, Lextalionis, Lineage, Methuselah, Neonate, Osiris, Papillon, Progeny, Praxis, Primogen, Regnant, Retainers, Siren, Suspire, Third Mortal, Thrall, Vitae, Wassail, Whelp, Wight, Witch-hunter, Whig; Cafe Prague, Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, Homily, Central America, San Andreas, The Scarlet Letters by Virgil (Book), Vampire, City Lights Bookshop, Sicily, Cainite, Damned, America, Toreador, Blood Hunt, Golden Gate Bridge, California, Bird of Paradise (Tavern), Tenderlion District, Milwaukee, Marquette University, Alexandrian Club (Vampire Club), Marina District, Chicago, Nosferatu, Camarilla, North America, History of the Camarilla (Book), San Francisco Museum, Mexico City, Popocatapetl, Tlatztelhuatec, Tenochtitlan, Velasquez Building, Teotihuactn, Mexico, Wallachia, Spain, Cuba, Sanguinary Cocktails, Bloodline, Ventrue, Blood Bond, Follower of Set, Montgomery, Russ Building, Chinatown, Pacific Heights, Tremere, Hong Kong, Chantry, Pyramid, St. Mary's Square, Frenzy, Chinatown Gate, Grant Avenue, California Street, Saint Mary's Church, Hang Ah Al ally, Waverley, Final Death, Clan Prestation, Hsi Lu Trading Company, China, Nosferatu, Chi, Thaumaturgy, Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Stockton, Mission District, Palace Hotel, Los Angeles, Ferry Building, New York, Delmonico Restaurant, Nob Hill, North Beach, Kearney, Broadway, Yerba Buena, Columbus, Grant, Saloon, Grant-Green, Civic Center Plaza, Fisherman's Wharf, First Post, Geary, Eddy, Ellis, O' Farrell Street, Mitchell Bros. Adult Theater, California Academy of Sciences, Music Pavilion, Ocean Beach, Cliff House, Seal Rock, Twin Peaks Boulevard, Colma, Woof Glen Cemetery, Santa Cruz Mountains, Nevada, TransAmerica Building, Barbary Coast, Pacific Avenue, Turk, Polk, Toreador, Poseurs, Artistes, Fifth Generation, Ninth Generation, Luigi's, Marin County, Circle of Seven, Esbats, Russian Hill, Caine, Boon, Blood Pact, Beacon Street, Order of the Black Hand, Damned, Lick, Domination, Path of Finding, Athame, Rite of Initiation, Curse of Tremere, Principle Focus of Vitae Infusion, Disciplines, Sewer Rat, Traditions, Powell, Conclave, Thaumaturgy, Blood Magic, Presidio, Seattle, Oakland, Union Square, L.A., Pacifica, The Night Wing (Club), Gutters (Vampire Gang), Buena Vista Park, Dugout Bar, Twin Peaks Park, Werewolf, Italy, Anzio, Georgia, France, Alcatraz Island, Rock,

Previous release Game Books Next release
VTM: Vampire Diary: The Embrace Buy it from DriveThruFiction! Vampire: The Masquerade books VTM: The Eternal Struggle: A Players Guide to the Jyhad
Advertisement