Places

The original Cathedral of Flesh spawned from the apotheosis sought by the zealous Yorak, a Tzimisce charged by the clan progenitor with the guardian­ ship of a germ of the Antediluvian’s consciousness. To protect the Antediluvian, Yorak constructed the Ca­

thedral of Flesh, a harrowing church-fortress sculpted from the flesh of peasants, slaves, rivals, beasts, and any number of other victims who were built into the pulsing, suppurating walls of the structure. The walls, buttresses, floors, and spires of the building were craft­ ed from the bones and skin of Yorak’s victims, which made the Cathedral a living (or perhaps undead) ves­ sel of mad collective consciousness — one that even­ tually devoured its creator.

The Cathedral of Flesh was originally constructed in Yorak’s domain in the Old World, somewhere in the Tzimisce-haunted land beyond the forest suppos­ edly near the Carpathian mountains. Tales of the Ca­ thedral’s moving have plagued the Kindred for centu­ ries, however, and have given horrific gravitas to both the Jyhad and the approach of Gehenna.

Tonight, none knows where the Cathedral of Flesh is located, though stories of its survival persist. Indeed, those who know the ways of the Tzimisce suggest that multiples of the Cathedral may have spawned in par­ thenogenesis from the original. Others argue that the Cathedral is now the body of the Antediluvian itself: an enormous, unholy church that slakes its thirst on those who foolishly or defiantly brave its halls.

What powerful but unrecorded race

Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

— Horace Smith, “Ozymandias”