During the Time of Babel, Lucifer selected ten of his most trusted retainers and sent them across the land. Their task was to teach the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve the secrets, not just of Creation but of Heaven as well. It was the beginning of the end.
Across the lands, the Ten taught the mortal flocks who then took this knowledge back to their tribes and built the Civilization of Ashes. So great was the knowledge the Ten brought with them that, in a few short years, cities that rivaled the bastions of the Fallen spread across the world. The mortals built cities upon the oceans and mountain aeries, sprawling desert metropolises and golden jungle temples. Cities like Enoch, if the mortal book is to be believed.
The Ten visited these cities from time to time to watch over their charges and teach them. In time, these secretive tutors were known simply as the "Watchers".
Decked in cloaks made of light and shadow, the ten watchers stood tall and frail, yet their eyes swam with knowledge and potential. They were welcomed into all the cities of man, and they watched as the mortals learned the most secret lore of Creation. In time, the Ten left a book with each mortal city so that their knowledge could be passed down from generation to generation. These books came to be called the Canon of the Eye, and they were lost amid the chaos at the end of the war. Their existence has been forgotten even in the oldest surviving myths, and this is as it should be. Such knowledge was foolishly given once; it must never happen again.
Still, the Ten watched and taught.
Girieal taught the race of dust the secrets of the earth, how to shape the land through the art of combining elements and minerals.
Sharaael imparted the knowledge of flesh and life so that mortals could recapture the immortality that God wrongly took away.
Of the secrets of the stars and the heavens above, Bephamael taught the race of mortals. The Book of Bephamael traced the patterns of the stars and how to predict the passage of time.
The secrets of wind and storm were written by the hand of Marael.
The secret of metal work and the forge was the providence of Gamael.
Ur-Shanbi taught mortals of fate and how to divine the future by looking at signs and portents. God kept Adam and Eve blind, but though Ur-Shanbi, humanity would be able to ascertain Heaven's plans.
Of the moon and her mistress, Samael taught mortals where to look for the Mother of the Moon, what secrets she possessed and how to protect themselves from her kin.
Agriel wrote of the many secrets of the bounty of the land, of fruits both good and bad, and how to manipulate them for nourishment or poison.
Of the sun, God's unrelenting eye, Shamshiel spoke to the race of Adam and Eve.
Finally, the greatest gift was given by Penemue to the race of Adam and Eve. Penemue taught the race of man the gift of writing language and the wisdom this entails. Through his gift, mortals gained the ability to define the world according to symbols and concepts and not by things that needed to be seen or touched. The secrets he taught allowed mortals to open their own eyes. Creation no longer needed to be seen and touched to be believed. Knowledge could now spread of its own accord. In a few generations, many tomes and books were written in the First Tongue, and humanity was close to finally unlocking its own divinity.
The Ten were killed by the nephilim.
Second Generation Vampires[]
The Elioud (Shadow Crusaders) of the Tal'Mahe'Ra believe that the ten Watchers were the children of Caine and Lilith. Each was associated with, guardian of, and perhaps a creature of one of the ten hells/shells of the Qliphoth, which they believe are alternate realities with different laws of physics than our own. They believe three of the Watchers joined Caine in the city of Enoch, where they became his three known childer, the sires of the antediluvian founders of the clans. The others were taken off by Lilith to serve her. The most hardline members of the Order of Moloch think these beings were the sources of the vampiric Disciplines, which were stolen from them and that those beings gain power over vampires through their powers.[1]
They believe that when the 3rd generation vampires rose up and slew the 2nd generation, they drove them back to the Qliphoth realms that they came from. However, when the Lasombra and Tzimisce antediluvians were killed during the Anarch Revolt, this allowed the Watchers from whom Vicissitude and Obtenebration were stolen (Aretstikapha/Arakiel and Azaneal, respectively) to return to this world through their Disciplines.
The Elioud claim 7 of the 10 were taken by Lilith to protect her gardens, the D'Hainu. The antediluvians journeyed to those D'hainu to slay the Watchers there and take their Disciplines. Similarly, the Bahari believe that Lilith had six children in her gardens who were slain by the 3rd generation: three boys — Kessep (Silver), Shotheq (Silence), and Nesher (Eagle) — and three girls — Mem (Water), Oreb (Raven), and Laylah (Night).[2]