The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment had gone corporate back in the eighties in growing response to persecution from the Guild of Nod. Back in its heyday, the Nod Religion was the one and only spot for vampires. People infected would show up lost and confused, the church would provide them with guidance. A community to work with. Hell, maybe it was just having the job of working with the other infected, other ‘blessed ones’. We were all dead broke since we couldn’t hold a day job and the blood haze could make you crazy at any moment anyways. If you weren’t with the church it was go homeless or have a very understanding family. Then this guy within the church by the name of Iago began preaching a new kind of sermon. One that called for scientific study of our condition, to seek ways for self-improvement that didn’t just wait around for the will of Nod but took matters into our own hands. First the Guild of Nod disciplined him, then they excommunicated him, and the inevitable death sentence soon followed. But he had already gotten his message across and Iago kept enough followers to be well protected even against the Nod Templar. This was all back in the 70’s. The Vietnam war was raging and everyone was protesting the social order. Maybe it was all the hippy vampires like me, maybe it was just because it was the Guild of Nod had come out in support of the Vietnam War. But vampires followed Iago. At first we were just roving bands, gangs hiding out in old buildings but we were free to do as we pleased. But when the war ended and everyone started coming home. The slurping…the killing was rampant during Vietnam for everyone. When a person vanished off the streets, folks would write it off as a fact of life. But after the war was over, suddenly every front page was plastered with the tragedy of someone’s death. Iago gathered as many of the vampires as he could and proposed they form a corporation to protect ourselves from discovery. The business was blood and the commodity to get it was time. We had a lot of one of those. Establishing safe-houses, controlling media, and even organizing gatherings for the various groups were the chief jobs handed out. Soldiers took to robbing the people they slurped, or just using their powers to rob in general. Scientists finally got the tools to fully research what was going on in our bodies. We did everything but go to Church on Sunday night.