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Contrary to what it may look like on the surface, the Lancea Sanctum is not Catholicism. The Lancea Sanctum is a collection of fanatics who honestly believe that God has imbued them with the singular purpose of making the world miserable for humanity. They have an entire book discussing the right, no duty, of Kindred to hunt upon the living. It would be a mistake to assume that the Sanctified religion exists solely to justify natural Kindred behavior (although it does that...), the Sanctified religion also exists to give Kindred an anchor in a new and often frightening world. However, like any religious complex actual belief is only one way to get ahead. In a Requiem where the powerful always win, faith is just another stepping stone to the top.

Principles

The Monochal Creed rules the Sanctified of the Tomesha Valley and as such they recognize the first ten Canons of the Sanguineous Catechism.

The First Canon, regarding the purpose of our damnation.

The Sanctified believe that the entire purpose of their existence is to feed on mortals thus terrorizing them and punishing them. They believe that the world is a prison for mortals, a sort of life-long purgatory until God decides upon the fate of their soul. The Sanctified are the gaolers of this prison and as such, they should make sure the prisoners are not treated humanely.

The Second Canon, regarding the inalienable wisdom of the Masquerade.

Kindred in the Lancea Sanctum recognize the fact that to be God's Holy Monsters it's necessary for them to remain hidden from mortal eyes. They believe that the most fear comes from the unknown and once Kindred become known they lose the ability strike terror into the hearts of men.

The Third Canon, regarding the shameful necessity of the Embrace.

Sanctified believe that the embrace damns the soul to hell irrevocably. They also believe that only God has the right to make the decision to on a soul's ultimate destination. This means that Kindred who take it upon themselves to embrace are essentially usurping God's privilege. The Sanctified view the Embrace as a terrible sin, but pragmatically realize that childer are a necessary component to God's dark army.

The Fourth Canon, regarding the abomination of the Amaranth.

Despite the believe that Amaranth is the act of stealing a soul from another Kindred, this isn't why the Sanctified object to it. The Sanctified believe that Amaranth is wrong because doing so degrades the diablerist's own soul and thus forces him closer to the beast. Those who go too far down the spiral to depravity lose the judgement necessary to enact their Holy Purpose.

The Fifth Canon, regarding the revelation of the Testament of Longinus.

Sanctified are expected to spread the word of the Dark Prophet to others outside of the covenant. Just like most religions, one of the core purposes of the Lancea Sanctum is recruitment and ultimately assimilation of all Kindred.

The Sixth Canon, regarding the efficaciousness of the sacred rites.

Members of the covenant are expected to attend certain sacred rites of the covenant. These rites are the ties that bind the covenant together, beyond simple mutual faith. They reinforce the community aspect of the “community of the faithful.” Each city conducts it's own rites, but often more important rites are done on a Hold level.

The Seventh Canon, regarding the miraculous arts of our Theban brethren.

The Theban Sorcery is a divine gift from God to empower his monsters to do his will and bring word of the faith to all Kindred. It bears no likeness to other sorceries, especially that of the Circle of the Crone. The Sanctified believe this is clearly evidenced by the fact that the Crone are forced into bloody sacrifices, that ultimately end up sacrificing parts of their own humanity, whereas the clearly superior Theban Sorcery requires no such sacrifice.

The Eighth Canon, regarding our congress with the Canaille.

The idea that Kindred exist to feed upon Kine leads naturally to the idea that Kindred should not associate with mortals outside of this God-mandated office. Kindred should not be overly cruel to mortals, because it is not the way of the wolf to torment the sheep but also should they not show them mercy. It's this canon that forbids emotional and physical relationships with mortals.

The Ninth Canon, regarding the recognition of wisdom within our ranks.

The Sanctified believe that power comes, at it's heart, from the manifestation of Damnation. Those who manifest their Damnation more perfectly end up in higher positions in the covenant. Since the goal of each Sanctified is to be the most perfect predator, the most perfect Damned, then this means any higher than them in the hierarchy has already become more perfect - and thus should be respected. In this way, the Sanctified have made respecting hierarchy into a divine mandate - something not even the Invictus have managed.

The Tenth Canon, regarding the transubstantiation of the vitae.

The Monachal Creed insists on this canon for the Hold, even though it's said in the Southeast Territories where the Tollisons rule, it's completely ignored. This canon states that when a Kindred consumes blood, the force of God's divine purpose transforms it into the vitae which fuels a vampire's powers. Interestingly, it's this canon that's most accepted as more-or-less truth outside of the covenant; most vampires accept that something happens to the blood to turn it to vitae, the argument is what. More than one theologist has had a heated Elysium debate with an Ordo scholar about the exact avenue of the transubstantiation.

Lancea Sanctum in the Hold

The Lancea Sanctum is not the most powerful covenant in the Tomesha Valley. They don't care either. The Sanctified is well developed at each level of it's hierarchy and that hierarchy is strictly enforced - after all, hierarchy itself is a divine mandate. The individual Kindred in cities report to the city Priest, the Priest reports to the nearest Bishop, and the Bishops report to the Council of Bishops. Once you get to the Council of Bishops, sometimes it's hard to tell if they report to the Archbishop or the Archbishop to them - however, few Kindred bother themselves thinking about such things. After all, such levels of power are immeasurably distant to them.

In general each city has so few numbers of Sanctified that there's little in-fighting amongst the covenant on a city level. Most of the internal politicking takes place between cities trying to one-up another in regards to such things as hosting Midnight Masses or the Gran Ballo. Within a city, the average Sanctified finds most of his nights filled with wheeling-and-dealing with other Kindred of other covenants. In this way, while fanatically religious, the Sanctified still experience the same concerns of other Kindred: a place to feed, revenge for a slight, the best retainer or whatever other minutiae make up the night-to-night Requiem.

While they experience drastic theological differences from the Circle of the Crone and the Ordo Dracul, on a city basis the Sanctified often find that these differences can take second place to the goal of creating a better position for themselves. It's a rare individual Sanctified who is ready to refuse business with a member of another covenant on basis of different faiths alone. Those that do rarely find themselves advancing in the city, much less the covenant. Of course, for Sanctified this creates a dangerous line to walk - to use others to progress while avoiding becoming so tolerant as to be accused of heresy themselves. But then, the Requiem is full of dangerous lines to walk.

Common Ritae

The Council of Bishops that rules the Sanctified of Tomesha Valley insists that all ritae be observed by the members of the covenant. Pragmatically they realize that most cities within the hold do not have the sort of members necessary to hold regular rites and for this purpose the Council often has ritae in which every member in the Hold is expected to attend. These ritae are often held in revolving cities and the Sanctified of a city often compete (and call in favors) for prestigious rites to be held in their domains - naturally footing the often exorbitant cost as well. Apostolica is almost always held on a Hold level while Ecclesia is left to individual cities.

Hold Level

Midnight Mass

Midnight Mass is generally held once every two years somewhere in the Hold. The privilege of hosting and speaking at Midnight Mass is one of the most sought after among Priests hoping to make Bishop. Every single Bishop that's ever made it to the Council of Bishops held multiple Midnight Masses before being awarded that privilege.

Anointing

Anointing is done as necessary, often by Legates traveling on behalf of the Overlord who is recognized among the Sanctified as the Archbishop. Sometimes ambitious Kindred call in favors to see to it that their anointing is done by a Bishop (or the Overlord personally!) after a Midnight Mass.

Confessional

In an effort to maintain strict control over the Sanctified in individual cities, the Bishops have declared that while any Priest can take a confession, the actual Rite of Confessional - that is, the act of divine forgiveness (and often the pardon of crimes) - can only be done by the Archbishop or his Legate. For this purpose, the Legate travels on a circuit of cities performing Rites of Confessional. He has no set schedule, but he's been known to make special appearances if requested (and compensated).

The Creation Rite

The Creation Rite isn't the rite for embrace (most of the time) but the rite of accepting a member into the covenant. This is the single Apostolica that is done on a city level, however it's almost always overseen by a Bishop's Legate. Those Kindred welcomed into the covenant without the Bishop's stamp of approval may regretfully find themselves down the road casually glanced over when it comes time for promotion.

Gran Ballo

Harpies and Socialites of the covenant tend to fight viciously over the privilege of hosting the Gran Ballo. Even more rare than Midnight Mass, this festival of covenant-approved excess is only hosted every five years. More than one Sanctified socialite has been made or broken by her hosting of the Gran Ballo. An excellent festival could catapult a Sanctified into the higher echelons of covenant Status, while a crass (or god forbid boring!) festival could send one fleeing into torpor in shame.

Crusade

Calling a Crusade is the sole privilege of the Archbishop and it would be a rare Kindred in the Tomesha Valley that could remember the last one. It happened in 1830 when the Overlord called a Crusade against a Native America cult at the same time as Indian Removal Act of 1830 was initiated - some say at behest of a Cardinal in the Northeast Territories on request from the Archbishop.

Quadragesima

The Fast of Forty Nights is supposed to represent the time Longinus wandered the desert. It would be impossible for any modern Kindred to go a month without feeding however, so the Council of Bishops have declared that the fast will be observed by the absence of hunting each Friday from the start of the New Year until the second week of February.

City Level

Many Ecclesia exist at the city level and often vary from city to city based on the Sanctified population. There are three that are recognized and practiced in each city of the Hold though.

Sermons

Sermons are held by the Priest of a specific city at a schedule of his own making. Of course, the Council of Bishops looks closely at any Priest who is not regularly performing sermons.

The Feast of Longinus

It's entirely common for the Sanctified of a city to get together as a coterie after the long nights of Quadragesima and hunt together, glutting on as much blood as they can swallow.

Recontre

The Sanctified of Tomesha Valley often turn to Recontre to solve internal disputes, after all it prevents nasty things like internal-covenant wars. Almost always a Bishop's Legate is requested to observe and it is absolutely forbidden for a Recontre to end in death without the Archbishop's personal approval - this is a matter not even left to his Legate.

Lancea Sanctum Titles

(This has been modified from the book in order to suit our game)

Cardinal

The Cardinal exists somewhere between an Overlord and a King. The Archbishops, ultimately, report to the Cardinals but the Cardinal does not rule a specific domain. Most Sanctified have never met a Cardinal and never will.

Archbishop

The position of Archbishop is reserved for the Overlord of the Hold. In Holds without a Sanctified Overlord, this title is not used. The Archbishop is technically above the Council of Bishops in the Sanctified hierarchy, but as he also has an entire Hold to oversee most of the night-to-night decisions of the covenant fall to the Council of Bishops.

Bishop

The title of Bishop is always given to Sanctified Princes, even those who were mediocre Priests but exceptional politicians. Beyond Prince, rarely, Priests are promoted to Bishop - this nearly always happens based on merit and is often reserved for those Priests who are particularly inspiring speakers. It's these Bishops who are highly sought over to speak and preside over ritae.

Synod or “the Council of Bishops”

Not every Bishop, however, occupies a place on the Council of Bishops. This is a position jockeyed for among Bishops and the source of much of the internal covenant politicking due to the fact that you can only be appointed to the Council of Bishops by the consensus of three other Bishops. And given that there can only be three Bishops on the Council at a time...

Inquisitor

The Inquisitor is a position appointed on the Hold level by the Council of Bishops. There exists only one Inquisitor for the Tomesha Valley, Enoch Mendelssohn, who travels the circuit of cities routing out heresy within the Covenant. Most prudent Priests realize the last person they want to visit their city is the Inquisitor, so they do their best to stay above suspicion.

Priest

For most cities, Priest is the highest covenant position within the city. This is the Kindred who handles the night-to-night affairs of the Sanctified. He holds sermons, gives confessions (but not Rite of Confessional) and in general minds the flock of the faithful.

Legate

The Council of Bishops as well as the Archbishop have their own Legate. These Legates have the singular duty of traveling on official business to cities in the Hold. They represent the Bishop, or Archbishop's, will and their word is not questioned.

Important Sanctified

• William Miller
• Joachim Diaz
• Charles Houston
• Carla Michaels
• Isabella Wright
• Enoch Mendelssohn
• Eric Ludwing
• Josiah Sutterfield