Rites & Rituals

No formal Sabbat gathering would be complete without a Blood Feast. It serves both as sustenance and as a vehicle to express the Sabbat’s lust to exist as the ultimate predator. The Blood Feast is a ritual “meal,” in which captured vessels are suspended from the ceiling, bound to sculptures, or otherwise immobilized and fed from at the leisure of all vampires present. The feast itself is as much social gathering as it is a structured ritus, and many Sabbat make grand entrances, wearing the best of their finery.

In preparation for a Blood Feast, a specially created pack or hunting party will have collected humans or even a rogue vampire or two the night before the feast. Much shouting, cheering, and baring of fangs occurs as the hunting party makes a formal presentation of the night’s feast to the highest-ranking Sabbat present. The official receives each victim and thanks the giver by kissing her forehead. He then hands the victims over to assistants, chosen to prepare the victims for the feast. They bind the victims’ hands and feet together and hoist them up on chains to hang at head level, or they tie (or nail) the victims to objects that prevent movement.

The night after the preparation, ghouls or low-ranking Sabbat prepare the feast location by placing the vessels. After all the guests have arrived — it is considered grievously poor form to be fashionably late — the priest, Bishop, or Archbishop holding the service conducts the ritus, dedicating the vessels to the Sabbat. Cainites at the gathering then bite open the victims and feed on the fresh vitae, often licking the wounds closed so as not to waste. There is usually one victim for every three vampires present at the feast; the pre-siding priest, Bishop, or Archbishop gets first choice of the night’s treats, and he draws first blood.

Some Cainites of the Sabbat have been formally cen-sured by higher-ranking Sabbat and even members of the Inquisition and Black Hand for relying too heavily on the Blood Feast. To be sure, mass-kidnappings and

the blood-stained halls left behind can lead vampire hunters to the trail of careless vampires.

System

Each blood point a Blood Feast victim possesses mystically transforms into two as it leaves his body. By the third night after a Blood Feast, however, the blood once again condenses back down to its original amount (if it hasn‘t been used and remains in a vampire’s body).