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me

Kamui Shiro

The History

Status: Deceased

In the year by the Roman calendar of 1835 AD I was born as all mortal children into this world with my mother a woman named Clare Alisanrae an honest British woman who married my father who was half British himself 6 years earlier shortly after she was saved by my father when the cargo ship Nonestromo on which she was traveling crashed into the shores in the bay of Bengal. I learned what many people know to be suffering and unconsciously the first noble truth by knowing suffering. My mother was poor and she could not afford to keep me after my father died so in the year 1839 my mother sent me to the Shindu Buddhist monastery north of where I used to live and introduced me to acarya Masuki, the master of the temple, that was the last time I saw her alive. Four years later I received word that she had died in the devastating floods in the lower provinces, I knew another kind of suffering, suffering must stop. I shall make it stop. Being a white person in a region populated by dark skinned persons made life quite difficult for me, probably the reason my mother chose this place, due to their understanding.

Master Masuki at the monastery taught me the skills of discipline, and the wisdom of ages and the philosophies of an unadorned life in tune with nature. He taught me the martial arts of kung fu, teaching that a way to having a healthy mind is to have a healthy body. We used to meditate for many hours and reflect on the inner turmoil and how it affects the external environment, he taught me how to put my mind and body in harmony to create a perfect synthesis of the soul.

By the age of 12 I had achieved such a high level of knowledge in the arts that I could have gone to the next stage in training, a full two years before it was usually done, but Master Masuki said that I was like the speeding fly through the bushes towards food, I'm going too fast to see the web in front of me and so will never reach the food but will in fact become the meal. Whereas the slower more careful fly will see and be able to avoid the trap and reach it's goal. So he said that though I had gained the knowledge in an astonishing speed I was not yet ready for the next level. So I waited and retained a virtuous mind by not letting in aggressive thoughts that could have clouded my mind.

In 1849 Master Masuki allowed me to enter the next stage of enlightenment my deeper meditation and reflection on the dharma.

People came and people went, I saw the strengths of man and the great weaknesses and desires to cause harm to others, I stayed and after 20 years I had achieved the level of siddha, second only in the temple to master Masuki himself, he told me how the outside world did not have the compassion and honesty that I possessed and that many may try to tempt me with unwholesome karma. He said that my journey was just beginning not ending that I must explore the outside world to better understand the inside world and the true reality.

One of the first lessons a student of the Shindu monastery must learn is not to be without fear, but rather to not be distracted by fear, for one cannot have perfect mindfulness with fear blocking one's path. The idea of leaving the monastery would have caused me fear because all I knew of the outside world was pain and suffering but though I was aware of this fear it was an irrational fear and only served to block my path rather than see me through to my goal so with the force of my training and faith I voyaged out into the world to spread the word of Buddha and the teachings of the dharma. With me I took a staff and two copies of the dharma, one that I would keep with myself and one that I could show those who wanted to see.

As I travelled I learned many things and saw many places I went through Darjeeling and south to Siliguri, I followed the Bangladesh border further south until I reached Digha out looking the Bay of Bengal. Seeing just a hint of the beauty that this world held I continued on west to explore the rest of the country of my birth. Of the things I learned I found that Buddhism had not travelled so far and many other religions cultivated the land, Hinduism was the main one of these many people followed this religion which has many similarities to Buddhism except they have a god to follow rather than the philosophy of Buddha, the three main gods of this religion I learned were Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer and reproducer. Many of these gods take the form of a four or more armed creature; this puzzled me greatly until the Guru of the temple of the place called Panaji explained.

This country is very diverse, almost every town has a different language which made for very interesting communication. When I left the temple I had no money or anything to trade other than my skills, so that had to do. To survive I performed menial tasks, farming, herding, milking, cooking, cleaning and this provided me with a roof over my head and food in my belly, as I travelled I taught the wisdom of the Buddha to the families who I kept company, the years passes, conflicts started and were quelled. I wandered and saw the suffering of the land I saw how man could harm another, the most memorable was the British and other Europeans who believed that their new religion Christianity had right over all others and those of another religion were beyond contempt. But as the Second step in the eight fold path – Right mindedness, implies how thoughts should be free of lust, ill-will, and cruelty so I did nothing other than calmly object to their cruelty, and was beaten for it. Now my training allowed me the ability to fight back, I could have defended myself from the beating but I knew that if I had though I could easily have stopped them from harming me I could not predict what would have happened to those in the crowd who may have gotten caught in the crossfire, I could not have let that happen so I endured the punishment but I did not give them the satisfaction of hearing me cry out from the pain so I entered a state of meditation as I had been taught and blocked out the pain, on the brink of death, blood pouring from the cuts across my body and the bruises that could be seen through my robes, they stopped from the cry of their sergeant who pointed out the robes I was wearing and that I was a religious man and how the beating of a defenseless religious man could cause an uprising they stopped, he called for a healer and they took me into a house where I was treated, but I did not know any of this as I was very deep in meditation.

The doctor had only seen a handful of people survive from such damage, many would die from the injury alone, never mind the infections that can occur, I amazed him as I suffered no infection or illness, and at the speed I healed, he claimed I had been saved by Vishnu's grace. I knew that it was my control over my own mind and belief in myself that saved me, but I felt sorrow for the guards that had beaten me for the suffering I had inflicted upon them. First for the punishment they would receive from their superiors and the suffering they received by inflicting harm upon me, this baffled my carer until I was able to explain.

Violence harms the one who inflicts it as much as the one who receives it.

An example would be that you could cut a tree down with an axe.

The axe does violence to the tree and you may see that the axe escapes unharmed.

Wood is soft in comparison to steel, but the harp steel is dulled as it chops, and the sap of the tree will rust and pit the steel.

The mighty axe does violence to the helpless tree, and is harmed by it.

So it is with men, though the harm is in the spirit.

A month later I was fully healed though this was half way into the spring of 1863 just having passed the anniversary of the 28th year of my birth and I left that place having learned all I felt I needed to learn. I had travelled for four years since I had left the confines of the monastery of my master's residence and so decided to travel back and tell him of my travels.

As I travelled I heard more and more disturbing news of attacks from the east and how the lands had been devastated to the north where the monastery resided, I sped my advance to the only place I could truly call home. Upon their retreat as I had heard the attackers had started a great fire that was burning out of control through the hillside, I arrived at the monastery ahead of the fire to find it had been attacked but not suffered to great casualties only three monks and one farmer had died protecting the villagers who had taken refuge inside the walls of the monastery. With the remaining students and villagers we beat back the flames and great help from a mysterious monsoon sized cloud that had appeared in the space of an hour to drown out the flames. This was so mysterious as the monsoon season was not to begin for another three months, I soon found out the cause. I went up to the master's room and found him collapsed upon the floor, I called for help and he looked at me, then spoke. He told me that he had sacrificed himself to save the rest. This confused me but I eventually coaxed more information out of him to find out that he had focused his chi to create the barrier that stopped the attackers and the rain that put out the flames but for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction where reality struck back at him. I found that he was a member of a secret order called the Jnani who are able to focus their chi through enlightenment. He then died there on the floor of his room. Just before he died he gave me a warning that what I see of the world is not what actually exists in that world, and that reality has a knack of kicking back when extraordinary things happen.

I left soon after to pursue my quest for enlightenment. I headed north to enter the mountain range in an attempt to seek purification, with the death of master Masuki my mind became confused and crowded and I had to banish these thoughts. After all we are all on the wheel of life, we are born, we live, we die, we are reborn anew and the cycle starts again so he was not really gone.

I toured the world for five years, I saw the terrors of war and the joy of birth, the fears of death, and the wasting of life. It is inevitable that everyone dies eventually, you cannot stop it, you can only choose when and how. I travelled through the places that are now known as Pakistan, through the mountainous ranges of Afghanistan, meeting many on my way, I travelled further west through Iran and north to Turkey, all the time spreading the wisdom of the Buddha with varying degrees of success, in a place called Fûrg in Iran the people there did not like the idea of a different view at all, only by what could be considered sheer luck did I manage to escape there without being executed.

From Iran I followed the boarder of Iraq then further into Turkey, I followed the Tigris River enduring the hot, dry summer. I then went south towards the Mediterranean Sea and stopped in a place called Mersin. From that place I managed to get transport on board a ship that was heading across the Mediterranean to Africa, we landed in a trading port in a place called Tunis. While I was there I heard many things, interesting and disturbing things, that over 2000 years earlier this used to be a centre of commerce in a ruins to the north once one of the greatest cities called Carthage. Politically things were becoming unstable this was drawing to the start of 1869 by the roman calendar, it was difficult to understand then but big things were happening, Turkey was loosing it's grip on this nation, not necessarily a bad thing but when one conqueror falls another just takes his place. On the surface one could not tell that there was anything wrong, people went about their lives as they always had, but under the surface tension was building. So once I had helped the captain with his unloading I made the trip to the ruins, it was shocking to think that what I had found was all that was left from such a great city. I searched the ruins to try and absorb the wisdom locked in the stones, I meditated on an outcropping just east of the ruins, and this is what I did for 6 days.

On the night of the 6th day I looked out on to the ruins and saw a woman suffering, she was looking at the ruins and crying. I could hear her cries from the distance of the outcropping and see her tears in the moonlight.

I moved across the land to offer my help, as I drew nearer I could hear what she was saying, she was wailing obscenities towards someone called Malkavians and Ventrue and weeping over what would appear to be the city or something inside. As I draw closer I smell it in the air and see it in the pale moonlight, her tears are blood. I fear the worst that she has been attacked and jump in to offer my help. What I had feared was farther from the truth than I could have imagined.

I am but two steps away when she speaks, without looking at me.

Did you get a good look from over there... have you come over to gloat.

I try to calm her, I tell her that I heard crying and saw blood on her face; I told her that I meant no harm, I told her why I came here and that I was a Buddhist monk. This seemed to cheer her up, she wiped her face and looked up at me, the moonlight against the sea blue eyes was entrancing, she thought for a moment and smiled.

Have you lived your life well, have you lived a long and fruitful life, ahh yes in the past few years you have learned much of the outside world, you have grown wise but yet still very naïve, there is a world beneath the one you have seen each day, where legends still live and creatures still prowl. But even you with your current level of enlightenment cannot complete your quest in your lifetime. It is a sad fact that you too will grow old and die. Unless I help you.

I thought now that I was in the presence of a true enlightened one, for only an absolute bodhicitta could take a person from the wheel of life. I was wrong. She said that wisdom should never die and in these times there is only a few ways to make sure it stays true. She gave me the whole of the next day to clean myself and bask in the beauty of the world, she said that I would never see the sunrise again, until I die and am reborn, she told me to shave and tidy my hair as my image would never change after tomorrow, one way or another.

Two hours before sunrise the woman departed and I was left alone. I did as she suggested cleaning myself, and tidied my hair. The sunrise was like no other I had ever seen; in the thirty-four years of life I had never truly appreciated it's beauty. The vibrant oranges, reds, and yellows like the sky itself was on fire, a wave of heat hit me as the first rays topped the horizon it filled me with a glow and a feeling of life. But as with everything the light dimmed and died behind the horizon and I was in darkness again.

She moved across the land like lightening and arrived in front of me. She told me that what she was going to do was permanent, I would be forced into darkness as the light of the sun would destroy me, I would no longer hunger for food, just drink, and not any drink but the drink of blood, she revealed to me that she was a Vampire and she would make me one too (at that time I didn't really know what a vampire was but I would soon find out). She told me that my belief is to escape the wheel of life and she is offering me a way to achieve it, which was roughly true. I nodded. She moved behind me and whispered in my ear. The pain will only last for a short time. A sharp pain on the side of my neck, the feeling of running warm water down my side, feeling weak in the knees. Falling slowly, ever so slowly to the ground. Darkness. I'm cold. I'm quiet. I'm dead.

Awaiting the moment of rebirth, which comes but not in the fashion I had imagined. I awake upon a stone casket looking up to the roof of a crypt. "It's cold," I say to myself. Then I feel the thirst. A thirst like no other, no water can quench it, a monster is awakening inside of me.

The woman came into the room.
"Ahh your finally awake, that was a deep sleep you were in. I can imagine you have a few questions. But first..." she walks over into a darker area of the crypt, I hear a slitting noise followed by a pouring noise like wine from a carafe to a glass. She turns once again and in her hand I see a goblet. She walks over to me. "We shall deal with your thirst, this should quench it for a time" she puts the goblet to my mouth and I drink. I gasp, I splutter, I spit "IT'S BLOOD!" she recoils back and says "of course it is, what did you think you would drink, I give this to you willingly, so you can quench the thirst you feel and quiet the beast inside of you". I suddenly realise that that taste is what I want, I remember feeling revolted at what I was doing but the beast inside was taking over, I drank, and I drank until I got my fill only then did I regain my senses. "WHAT was that...?" I cried, she sighed, "That my childe was the first stirrings of the beast inside of you, there is much to tell if you are to listen...".

She spoke for many hours telling me all of vampire society and how things worked. But she did create one light of hope the knowledge of Golconda, a mystic state where a vampire is freed from the curse also he and his beast become one. She could not tell me much on this as she had only heard whispers herself but she did tell me that there where those who knew more or perhaps have even reached that state, one name came up a few times Salubri, but with it warnings of infernal practices, this was confusing that an enlightened clan such as that could or would deal in infernal practices. I learned of two sects that rule this world of darkness the Camarilla, of which my sire is a member, those who hide their existence from the rest of the world and restrain their powers to maintain that masquerade. Then there is the Sabbat who care not for mortals and expose themselves in bloody battles. These teachings continued for the best part of a year, in which we travelled, by night, from Tunis to a place in Greece where I met the prince then from there we voyaged further north. Much time passed in the time we travelled, my sire was surprised to hear that there had been a war on the new continent (America as we now call it).

Before reaching Greece, mirrors and reflective surfaces were in short supply so I did not see the full extent of what had happened to me. I arrived in the prince's court, in a city in Greece and I saw the mirrors that coated his chambers. The prince himself looked about in his mid twenties with mid-length almond coloured hair and dark blue eyes, he was dressed very smartly as many of the nobles of Greece did in that time. This would be my first glimpse of a Toreador, in his company grace and quick-wit would be the order of the night. By the way he and my sire reacted to one another it was plainly obvious to anyone there that there was history between the two, rumours started to circulate around the domain members. My sire introduced me to the honorable prince and told him that I was her new childe and she requested I be recognized by him. Within a moment I saw fear cross his face as he stared past me into one of the mirrors behind and saw only himself, my sire, and the other members of the court, but not me. As quickly as the expression appeared it was gone again, he dismissed the court, saying he wished to speak privately with my sire and myself. More rumours ensued from the court members.

From those conversations I learned that a vampire being without a reflection was a rare thing, a thing mostly associated with the night clan, or the Lasombra as they are called. Also I learned that this could be very dangerous for me with the release of Lord Byron's "The Giaour" which contained vampire references, this was spawning publicity that we did not want. And in 1819 a Mr John Polidori wrote an English story called "The Vampyre" these events were heightening fears of a second inquisition within vampire circles. We stayed in that area of Greece for a while, I continued to strengthen my faith with my Buddhist beliefs, and my strength into enlightenment, I also tried to find out anymore on the mysterious mystical state called Golconda, I was met by laughter and ridicule for believing in it, I looked for the Salubri and was met by further rumours of infernal dealings and destruction, these seemed to be fuelled by the kindred called the Tremere. The Tremere were very strange, always smelling of sulphur, salt, and other chemicals, they kept to themselves and seemed to get very anxious and angry when I asked about the Salubri. For the rest of the time I was there they seemed to ignore me, realising that I did not know anything they wanted to know and was so unimportant.

My sire and I left Greece in the middle of 1875 I had learned a great amount about vampire culture but I was still young and had to learn more. For the next few years I spent wandering with very few clues, no one was willing to speak of the Salubri not wanting to bring down the wrath of the Tremere upon themselves.

By the beginning of the 20th century the world was changing radically, women were appealing for the right to vote, which was not new in history but this time their argument had more momentum and this pleased my sire greatly. Also this dawned a new age of more fearsome destruction and for the first time ever that my sire could remember the world engaged in war on a global scale. Prior to this wars were fought between leaders or principles, but now entire countries under a single dictum fought each other. This however was not limited to mortals, the conflict between the camarilla and the Sabbat also heated up. All the mindless destruction what is the point? At this point I see how violent we can be the Brujah taking this violence to its limit while others just sit back and watch the play unfold. Following the war was a time known as the roaring twenties for many were celebrating the end of the war and a time of new prosperity. It is at this time I meet John who is also a Buddhist from a temple in this part of Spain he is only in his mid twenties, yet he is very wise in the world but rather than simply turn him as might be appropriate I feed him my blood giving him the advantages of being a vampire without the discomfort and disadvantages. My sire helped me with this and advised me in not turning him, as we are vulnerable when the sun rises and he would not be so he can do things that we could not. I chose not to blood bond him completely as I preferred him to be of sound mind rather than a mindless puppet and because of this generosity on my part I gained more out of him than I ever could by forcibly blood bonding him. He managed to get some blood for me meaning that I was no longer required to hunt when the food found its way to me.

Time as it does passed and I remained immune. My fears are found true in 1938 when the second round of world wars starts, and the worst side of mankind is shown as plain as day with the holocaust. My first sight of genocide... horrifying what they will do to one another. Then a new level of horror streaks through the world as mass-death caused by the dropping of the two bombs that ended the war. The devastation caused by these devises is unparalleled the first one hitting Hiroshima killing 78,000 people in one blast and the second hitting Nagasaki killing a further 35,000 people. We are at the dawn of the atomic age and the world will never be the same again.

During the 60's was the time I entered Britain, this was a time when the Brujah were really striking out against the system with the aid of the mortals who view the conflict in Vietnam as wasteful and truly believe that the world is going to go up in flames.

?

Now at this time I agreed with the philosophy of anti-war but I did not agree with the methods, they were too violent. Some could see the peaceful way but many chose to strike back against the government. It is during this time that Buddhism and many other religions became more popular. I easily managed to obtain British citizenship at this time.

In modern nights nuclear disarmament is well on it's way but not far enough, each side of the super powers still holding over 3000 nuclear weapons, the Brujah are still having fun in their attacks against the system, they seem to find me strange for not rebelling against the system but most of them respect my decision once it is explained to them. It is now the 90's and this is where my sire and I part ways she says she has work to do in the East. I shall never forget her, Aneska.

This is the time of the Goth punk, the world's music takes a disturbing turn shouting of war, drugs, insanity, and murder, have they not learned from their past. It appears not.

I make my way through the British Isles and head north to the fair lands of Scotland, I am no closer to the truth on Golconda or the Salubri, will I ever find out about them. In 1999 I am in a small place in the North of Glasgow July comes and so do the nightmares (or daymares to be more accurate) of a great battle, fear and destruction dominate these nights, I cannot make heads or tails of these dreams only that something bad has happened or will happen, I have a deep sense of foreboding. I hear on the news of a great hurricane in Bangladesh and morn the horrendous loss of life, yet as my belief says that when someone dies they are brought back so they are not really dead this calms my heart (which does not beat). I cannot connect the events. Next I hear that a clan that I had never met before called the Ravnos went crazy following these nights. Whisperings of Gehenna circulate. It is time to leave. I choose to go to places less obvious in the northern places and this lands me finally in a small town called Nairn.

This is where the story starts...
This is where the action begins...
Let it begin...