The Four Faces of Caine

The Four Faces of Caine
The Four Faces of Caine is often a reference to the four personas Caine adopted during the Trials of Caine and during the Conflagration. It was not until the Conflagration had begun that the Gather of St. Augustine were able to deduce that The Human, Allen, Peckinpah, and the Black John and his Numbers were all facets of Caine.

Conception
Shortly after the 13 Antediluvians had gathered in the city of St. Augustine and had peaceably agreed to cease hostilities and slow or end the Jyhad, the archangel Gabriel visited Caine and asked him what he thought of it. Caine did not have any faith in the Antediluvians ability to maintain any sort of peaceful facade for very long. Gabriel asked Caine what, if anything, he intended to do about it.

Caine told him, he would do nothing. Gabriel accepted this answer, and left him alone.

Caine then watched the kindred of St. Augustine thereafter. He watched them dispatch Gorgo, the crazed Hunter, Azazel, and he noted the stark humanity among them all and how much the majority clung to it.

He also noted that it wasn't too much longer that some of his grandchilder began to slip back into their old habits. Sutekh had woken and was renewing his war with Osiris. Ventru was moving against Tremere. The ancient ones were slipping back into their old habits, and Caine decided he would have none of that.

Gehenna would come, Caine decided, and the kindred of St. Augustine would be the key instruments in it all. They would be the ones to decide the fate of the 15....and himself.

So it was then, Caine called out to Gabriel and to Lucifer both, and made a bargain with them. They would both aid him in the construction of what would become the Trials of Caine and the Conflagration, with his soul on the line. Gabriel and Lucifer both agreed to this...and so work began.

It was decided that the 15 would endure 7 trials, each based one of the Seven Deadly Sins, with 2-3 of the Antediluvians being chosen for each sin. Caine knew that the 15 were hopelessly marred by their natures, and that in order for them to have the ability to change they would require an independent 3rd party, equal to them, that could covnince them to see their flaws within themselves...or not. Caine felt the kindred of St. Augustine served this role perfectly given their dedication to their humanity.

The purpose of the Trials, Caine felt, was twofold: First, his 15 grand-childer would be given an oppertunity to face redemption or destruction based upon the judgement of the kindred of St. Augustine. Being young and new the world (at least in comparison to the 15), Caine felt they were ideally suited to infusing into his grand-childer a contemparyry and very human perspective on themselves and their choices. Second, it would temper them for the Conflagration, Caine's own Trial, in which he promised his fate would be decided by the very same kindred who would judge his grand-childer. Caine would call the 15 to St. Augustine...and Lucifer/Gabriel would be the stage workers, building the props and necessary setting pieces ot make it all work.

The Human
Some time before the First Trial, Caine decided that rather than deal with him directly that the Kindred needed to see him as he was before. So it was that the Human came into existance, taking on the visage of the deceased Gabriel MacNamara. The human would represent Caine as he was, in his innocence. The kindred of St. Augustine would see him for who he had once been before, before his fall and before he was cursed.

Caine had suspected that Zillah would object to his use of Mr. MacNamara but Caine felt it was important to use him as he had been considered a dear friend of many in the gather. To his surprise, Zillah did not object.

Once he had the visage made, Caine decided to call this persona "The Human" as it represented what he and everyotherr vampire was before their embrace: a human.

Allen
Caine considered after the Human was made that he needed something to challenge the Gather, something to counter balance their perspective. They were still Kindred after all, just as flawed as the 15 had been, and he needed to be sure that they could overcome their own flaws. If they overcame him, then Caine could see salvation. But if they didn't...then Caine would earn his destruction.

The second persona he created was 'Allen'. The name was after a coleaguee of Mr. McNamara during his mortal days, Allen Vizel. Allen was a very prosperous art dealer but was also very selfish, underhanded, and devious. Gabriel depised the man but was forced to deal with him to in order to find many of the pieces he needed.

Allen was chosen to the be the persona that represented the collective selfishness of not only Caine but the 15 and the kindred of St. Augustine. His role would be to goad them into whatever ends best suited themselves, regardless of the consequences involved.

Peckinpah
Acting as a counter-voice to Allen, Caine created the being known as "Peckinpah." Whereas Allen was vicious and selfish, Peckinpah would be soft and wise. He would offer his help only when it was accepted. Like the patient teacher, Peckinpah's role was to act as guide to the group of St. Augustine...should they request.

Peckinpah was named after the film-maker, Sam Peckinpah, for whom Gabriel McNamara had been a fan of his works. In him, Caine infused the collective wisdom of his years as well as his idealism. Peckinpah was the man that Caine had aspired to be but would always fall short due to his failing. Like Christ or the Buddha, his an ideal that could never been reached.

The Black John
Last and most importantly, Caine created the figure that would serve as the Harbinger of the events to come and as his most difficult challenge. Into this man he infused all of his anger, his hatred, his cold and inhuman contempt for God, his brother, and everything else. He gathered up all the failings of himself, the 15, and the kindred of St. Augustine, and dumped them all into a single enitty. That man would become known merely as only, "The Black John" or the Dark Shepard as his followers began to call him.

John would serve as the demon, the Beast, the devil to the group. If Allen was to be a tempter, John was a destroyer. His role was to bring the Reckoning, and show no mercy in the attempt.

The Numbers
With the personas made, Caine felt he had the stage set. The Human, Allen, and Peckinpah were all content in their roles and waited for the day for the Trials to end so that they could come into play.

The Black John however was not content. He looked upon the kindred of St. Augustine and saw only failure. He came to Caine and told him, not requested of him, that he was going to 'infect' the denizens of St. Augustine with something incruable, something the kindred could not fight against. "I will show you what they really are. They prance about as if they are human but I would will show them how monstrous they can become."

Caine did not agree but did not stop either. He watched as random mortals were infected with a 'Number' that for a great long time seemingly bore no significance. As the mortal world began to react to this unexplainable phenomenon, the kindred of St. Augustine did so as well and the results were horrific. The Numbers were persecuted, hunted, and hated. The Kindred used them in their political plots as scapegoats and targets.



Caine approached John then, and asked him what the Numbers were. John replied,

"They are your sins, and the sins of the others. Ever fault, every failing, every flaw, has a Number. The more they refuse to rise above themsleves, the stronger I become."

This proved true, and during the Conflagration the Numbers would cause unimaginable levels of destruction.