The Shepherds of Caine

Sabbat -x- Montreal
Background: Largely responsible for the shape of Montreal's vampiric community, the Shepherds of Caine were created in 1691 by a group of Jesuit missionaries who were Embraced by Louis Levasseur and Marianne Jibrac. The two French Toreador antitribu (who lived in Ville-Marie) wanted to see how missionary fervor would survive the Creation Rite. Three fathers emerged from their graves, but not until a month had passed. Taking the names Ignace, Frere Michel and Frere Antoine, they claimed to have gained the will to emerge from the frozen soil after sharing a vision of Caine. They said that the Third Mortal had been exiled so he could experience the darkness of his own deeds and find the light of salvation in himself, a lesson lost on most of his children. From this vision, the Path of Nocturnal Redemption was born. The fathers also claimed to have sensed a demonic presence on the island. Guarding against this pestilence was one of the top priorities of the new coven they formed.

The Shepherds became the moral heart of Ville-Marie and Montreal's Sabbat community, and they sent out missionaries to spread their Path. The relations these envoys established became the foundation of the Litany of Blood. When a Camarilla facade was imposed on the city in 1760, the Shepherds recognized Prince Strathcona as a potential ally and slowly drew him into the Sabbat. In 1804, Priscus Gustav Mallenhaus, knowing of the Shepherds' expertise in guarding against demonic forces, came to them for aid in establishing the Sabbat Inquisition. The coven has maintained ties to the crusade against infernalism ever since (see Appendix).

By 1837, Strathcona was a full-fledged Sabbat sympathizer. The Shepherds - wanting him to join the sect outright - helped incite a populist French-Canadian revolt that brought British troops to the city and Camarilla envoys to replace the wayward prince. After the Sabbat's victory, Strathcona broke all ties with his old sect.

Soon after these rebellions, Ignace was Sainted, departed from this world and became the most honored of the Hollow Saints. Shaken by its leader's departure, the coven fell into confusion. Ignace's most loving childe Soeur Jeanne refused to return from her duties as head of the Inquisition, and Soeur Marianne, the keeper of the Litany, left the city forever. After a period of adjustment, the coven adopted a form of cooperative leadership, and the priesthood of the coven has since passed among the eldest of the Shepherds. Of the current members, Frere Marc, Yitzhak and Alfred Benezri have all served as leader.

In 1910, the Shepherds, with the Librarians and Archbishop Strathcona, achieved a great victory. They staged the Conference of Caine concurrently with the mortal Eucharist Conference. A meeting of the Sabbat's wises scholars and thinkers, the supposedly apolitical gathering brought together members of rival factions. Many remember it as the beginning of the end of the Sabbat Civil War. It was soon after that Soeur Jeanne's politicized Inquisition was destroyed, and although the Shepherds lost a direct link to power in the sect, the reformed Inquisition still valued the coven's cooperation and expertise. Zhoul, a Taoist Shepherd, was recently destroyed while serving as a judge inquisitor.

Shepherd dominion over Montreal has become strained in the last 30 years. In the 1970s, a hidden invasion of Haitian Setites occurred. The coven agreed to support the Serpent of the Light Sangris in his efforts to defeat his "brethren." When Archbishop Veronique La Cruelle disappeared, the Shepherds supported Sangris' assumption of leadership. The Serpent ruled well and largely left the coven to pursue its own objectives. However, the Shepherds were appalled and embarrassed when Sangris' infernalism was exposed, and they were forced to accept the imposition of foreign Archbishop Carolina Valez.

The arrival of Ezekiel has the coven worried that he will transform the city into a New York and that the Black Hand's well-known animosity for the Inquisition will be directed toward them. To avoid this, Alfred Benezri has been introduced as a candidate for the archdiocese. The coven hopes to return Montreal to its stable days, during which the the coven flourished.

The Shepherds believe that Montreal's infernal taint was destroyed with Sangris, and are now trying to expand their theology to the Camarilla. These attempts are extremely covert, and the coven has not wavered from its loyalty to the Sabbat. The Shepherds hope that their Path of Nocturnal Redemption can find adherents in the other sects and prove an effective way of leading more childer of Caine to salvation.

Lair: In the 1920's, the Shepherds moved from their lair in Old Montreal to the newly constructed crypt of Saint Joseph's Oratory. Finished in 1955, the oratory was built at the foot of Mount Royal in honor of Frere Andre, a mortal holy man who was responsible for miraculous healing in the early part of the century. Andre seemed to be able to channel the faith that flows in Montreal, and the Shepherds hoped to Embrace him as a successor to Saint Ignace. He refused and was allowed to die peacefully before the eyes of coven-member Frere Marc. The holy man's hear - beating slowly in a vat of vampiric vitae - remains on display in a dark alcove of the oratory, and it still has a potent connection to the faith of the city. The secret rooms in the Shepherd's crypt form a circular network. The central chamber serves as the prayer chamber, and it lies beneath the resting place of Frere Andre.

Rites and Practices: The Feast of Twelfth Night: The Shepherds have developed several rituals and customs that are linked to their belief in Nocturnal Redemption. Common Sabbat rituals are practiced with a religious flair, and sermons of Caine are especially popular when linked with teachings from Saint Ignace the Martyr. Every January, on Twelfth Night, the Shepherds gather in the Hall of Hollow Saints to mark the anniversary of Ignace's Embrace. After an evening of prayer and sermons, the coven performs the Vaulderie. On rare occasions, Saint Ignace's form has been known to cry tears of blood. The tears are added to the Vaulderie cup to cause revelations in the drinkers. It is also traditional for the coven to Embrace enlightened mortals and them through the Creation Rites in one of several special nearby mausoleums. In the early hours of the morning, the coven goes to the Temple of Eternal Whispers to hold a blood feast for the city's vampires, victimizing corrupt mortals whom they have singled out.