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The main cult in Sacramento worships a Minoan derived goddess known as Potnia Theia, or “Lady of the Divine”, which is typically represented as a woman holding a snake in each hand. Over the years the goddess worshipped has taken her own distinctly Acolyte form and is known now as the Mother of Monsters, with the Hierophant as her divine manifestation on earth. The Snake cult, as non-cultists call it, worships mainly through oral tradition storytelling making the position of Skald somewhat important in the city. Other popular rites include divination rites, which the cult holds in high esteem, and rites asking for Potnia Theia’s favor. The cult has a special rite for those wishing to move out of the Chorus and into the main body of the cult, this ritual involves having to find their way to the center of a garden maze - any one familiar with Acolyte gardens will realize this is not always so straight forward a task though.

Titles

Members of the cult often give each aspect of the goddess a title to represent the aspect they’re calling on or talking about at the time. They also assign these aspects to other members, in lesser roles as a way to distinguish what path another has taken.

Base title:

• Potnia - Lady/Mistress
  • This title is given to the goddess and her aspects.
• Pipituna - Daughter
  • This title is given to the full female members of the cult.
• Pipitis - Son
  • This title is given to the full male members of the cult.
• Ipemedeja - Devotant
  • This title is given to members of the chorus.

Additional titles:

• Theron - of Animals
• Theia - of the Divine
• Dapurito - of the Labyrinth
• Iqeja - of the Horse
• Urceus - of Wine
• Gla - of the Sword
• Vomos - of the Altar
• Mjeda - of Fate
• Aceso - of Healing

Using this system the cult can easily distinguish a martial male follower as “Pipitis Gla” or an oracle as “Pipituna Mjeda”.

The Litany

The Litany is composed of short pleas, prayers, and exaltation's to the goddess. Most are only two or three lines long and follow almost a formulaic language. Most cultists know several of these and use the ones that suit their current needs, or mix and match until they form one that does.

Oh Potnia Theron, Mistress of the Beast, Mother of the Snake. You who rule the animals of the land and the animals of the sea. You who rest with uneasy wildness in our hearts. Come to us and grant us your vision. Come to us and grant us your sight. Give us the speed of the cheetah and the wisdom of the owl so that we may progress your works this night.

Oh Potnia Gla, Mother of Terror, Lady of Blood. You who the earth trembles for. Come to us and give us your fear. Let our enemies run at the sight of your unholy presence. Let our enemies shake in our path as the earth shakes under your feet. Empower us and protect us. The blood we shed, we shed in your name.

Oh Potnia Vomos, Lady of the Altar, Great Flame of the Unforgotten. You who exist in our temples and sleep under our altars. Come grant us your presence this evening. Come to us and lap up the blood we spill in your name. Give us your magic. Let us bleed for you.

Oh Potnia Aceso. Mother of Medicine, Lady of Healing. She who has mercy on the dying and the sick. Grant us your power tonight. We bring to you the sick, the dying. We lay her upon your altar. You grant with your infinite mercy the continuance of life to those who must heal. Like the goddess of birth, you are a woman of creation. Help us this evening. Behold us. Behold our sacrifice. Behold our need. We call upon you to give us your power.

Favored Offerings

All Acolytes practice some form of blood sacrifice and this is true for the Snake cult as well. They believe that certain animals and organs are more favored than others though, so their sacrifice is usually limited to their own vitae or these offerings:

• Doves
• Lions
• Bulls
• Snakes

• Tongues
• Eyes
• Hearts

Oral Tradition

The cult has several stories they like to tell about the origins of vampires, but these are three of the oft-repeated favorites and the three most likely to be known outside of the cult.

In the Beginning...

A long time ago Potnia Theia created the earth from her womb and it was a muddy thing, because the oceans and the lands hadn't separated yet and up through the mud crawled her first children. She tasked these children to separate the dirt and the water so the land could support the animals with legs and the water could support the animals with fins.

So they dug through the mud and toiled in a bright blinding light because there wasn't night yet and they separated the water and the dirt and made the earth as we know it now. Potnia Theia was so pleased she gave each of her children a present. She gave them birds and snakes, cats and dogs, fish and trees. Each child took their gift and spread it all over the world. Some of them took their gifts and split them and shifted them and helped them grow, so then we had lions and tigers instead of just cats. We had alligators and lizards instead of just snakes.

But her children complained that the world was too crowded and they were exhausted, so Potnia Theia made the night. The children didn't like the night though and only one child walked out into it while the others huddled in the day light. Lulu was happy in the darkness and her gifts the snakes followed her at her feet and the cats chased the snakes and they walked across the earth, spreading the night and making more of themselves. Then Lulu realized that under the cover of dark she could escape the notice of the other children so she began to sneak in the night and take what she wanted.

But Lulu was lonely too, because while the snakes and cats were great company she missed her sisters and her brothers. They were jealous she walked in the night but too afraid to do it themselves, so they wouldn't talk to her. So then the first snake whispered to her and said they could make their own children. Lulu couldn't make children just by herself, she wasn't a God or a Goddess. So she sent the snake to watch her mother, Potnia Theia, and spy on her to see how the children were made. The snake came back and said that Potnia Theia took the blood from within her and sculpted it into her creations. So then Lulu sent the first cat to scratch Potnia Theia and steal some of her blood and bring it back to Lulu. Lulu took the blood from the cat and swallowed it then laid with the snake and from them were created the first childer of the night. And that's how we have Cruac. The Crone have Cruac because we never tried to pretend to go back to the other children of Potnia Theia. She likes us because we're bold but dislikes us because we're disobedient.

Every one's given them different names and twisted the story, but Medusa was one of Lulu's first childer. Medusa was the first Ventrue, Eurayle was the first Mekhet and Stheno was the first Daeva. I dunno what their names originally were, but that's what history calls them.

Daeva, Gangrel and Groves

So it came to pass that Lulu had five childer and these five childer went out into the world and made childer of their own. They stalked the children of Lulu's siblings who chose to dwell in the light and took from them blood just as the cat took blood from Potnia Theia. And this went on for years, with the children of the day light rising each morning weaker than the night before.

So the children of the day started leaving gifts for the children of the night, in hopes that it'd appease then and they wouldn't wake up so weak. Then it came to be that the children of the night expected these sacrifices and the children of the day started competing amongst each other to give the best to their favored childe of the night.

There was one offering that was found, a beautiful young maiden, who was by far the most beautiful woman the clans had ever seen. She was taken to the temple dedicated to the sacrifices for the First Ventrue and told to wait and it was here that the First Daeva saw her. Immediately the first Daeva wanted the beautiful maiden, but she was destined for the first Ventrue and the first Daeva could not take her. The Daeva whispered to the girl, trying to convince her to come away but she wouldn't and in frustration the Daeva went to their father snake, who had laid with Lulu. The father snake had a special liking for the Daeva, it being the oldest of the childer. So when the first Daeva told father snake why she was so frustrated, the father snake gave her a present. He gave her the ability to speak in forked tongue and honeyed words, just like he once spoke to Lulu.

Armed with this new ability the first Daeva went to fetch the maiden but she was already cloistered inside the temple and the first Daeva couldn't get inside. So then she turned to the first Gangrel and with her honeyed words convinced her brother to fight the Ventrue and claim the sacrifice for her. That is how it came to be that the first Gangrel and the first Ventrue gathered in what would become the first Grove. There the Gangrel called on the armies of animals of the forest and the Ventrue called on the animals of the land and they sent wave after wave of animals at each other, and each wave of animals attacked and killed the one that met it until the land ran red with blood and there were no more animals for the first Ventrue or the first Gangrel to call on.

The first Ventrue was the second childe of Lulu though and she was clever. She held the sacrifice in front of her and said to the first Gangrel, "If this is what you've come to take from me, then walk forward and have it, because there are no more animals for you and there are a hundred more men at my fingertips." So the Gangrel ran forward, thinking of the honeyed promises the first Daeva had made him, and wanting nothing more to reach the sacrifice to gain those promises. But the earth was thick with blood and the mud deep from thousands of the slaughtered and as the Gangrel crossed it, he started to sink into the earth. The first Gangrel struggled and fought but the earth was alive with the blood of those animals killed for nothing but greed and it pulled him down deeper, covering his head with red mud. Then the first Gangrel cried out to Potnia Theron and begged her for forgiveness.

So Potnia Theron said to the first Gangrel, "I will forgive you and the earth will be your shelter and not your death, but you will always carry on you the mark of the beast to remind you of this bargain." And so the first Gangrel became one with the earth and the first Grove was made nourished on the blood of the slaughter. The first Ventrue had it's Sacrifice and the first Daeva learned how to seduce. That's why Gangrel hold the beast so close to their hearts now, because of that mercy and punishment. Groves to this day crave blood, because they were born in blood. The most power there comes from sacrifices made above them.

How Lion Got His Mane

So it came to pass that the children of the day set the sun in reverence, because it was the sun that caused their crops to grow and it was the sun that warmed their bodies and it was the sun that protected them from the dark. Meanwhile the childer of Lulu gave praise to their mother and their grandmother and continued to lurk in the darkness along with the creatures of night.

One such creature was the king of cats. Mekhet always envied the king of cats his sleek black coat, because with it the king of cats could hide seamlessly in the night. He stalked his prey in the shadows with them never knowing he was there. Mekhet, being one of the younger childer of Lulu, wanted nothing more to possess the king of cat’s shadow-coat so that he could spy upon his older siblings and learn their secrets.

So every night, after the sun slipped beneath the horizon Mekhet would wake and go to the king of cats. He would say every night, “Oh gorgeous king of cats, who has so many blessings and so many children, could you not loan me your sleek and shadowed coat just this one night?” And every night the king of cats refused Mekhet and Mekhet was forced to ply his spying trade without it. Then one night Mekhet went to the king of cats and he said, “Oh gorgeous king of cats, who has a dozen wives unsurpassed, could you not let me use your sleek and shadowed coat just this one night?”

And that night the king of cats said to the Mekhet, “I will make you a bargain, Mekhet, if you really wish my shadowed-coat. Bring me the collar of the sun and you shall have it forever.” Now the Mekhet, being a greedy sort, wanted nothing more than to have the coat forever so he agreed immediately. The king of cats confessed that he had long watched the sun rise each morning and don his golden collar and he wanted nothing more than to wear such a collar around his own neck.

For several nights Mekhet stayed up until the sun rose hoping to catch it and steal it’s collar, but every time the sun rose it donned it’s golden collar and the glint and shine from it was so bright it burned Mekhet’s eyes and sent him fleeing into the dark. Mekhet soon decided that he could not catch the sun and steal it’s collar by sheer strength, so he turned to cunning.

So on the fourth night Mekhet crept into Potnia Mjeda’s garden and sat down in front of her still garden pool. He leaned forward and peered into the dark water and saw the space between time. He saw in a glimpse the deepest secrets of all the gods and all the men and all the animals, but only one secret interested Mekhet. He saw that the moon was envious of the sun. The creatures of the day worshipped the sun but none gave praise to the moon. The sun stayed awake the longest in the best times of year while the moon was shuttered to the dark and cold winter.

Knowing moon’s deepest secret, Mekhet crept out of the garden and waited until the next night when the moon rose. “Pssst” said Mekhet to the moon and with blank white face the moon turned to him. “Do you not hate the sun like I?,” said Mekhet, “Is he not so bold sitting on his golden throne all day, as the children of day worship him like a god? It is not fair that you and I, we have to lurk in the dark, in the worst times of year while he dons himself in golden collars and the praise of humans.” And because Mekhet was not without some of father snake’s divided tongue, the moon listened to him and the moon agreed.

So between the Mekhet and the moon was hatched a plan. The moon would wait until the sun was high in the sky and basking in the praise of his followers. Then when the sun is least expecting it, the moon would rise and block his light from the earth. In that moment, when the sun is confused and darkness shutters the land, the Mekhet would strike, stealing the golden collar.

Patiently the Mekhet and the moon waited and a day came that the sun was high in the sky and his worshippers were knelt at his feet and he rose and blotted out the sun. Mekhet ran as fast as Mekhet could run and before sun knew what happened his glorious golden collar had been stolen. Then moon released the sun and the sun angrily cursed Mekhet, he swore as he stood high in the sky that his rays would burn Mekhet twice as badly as any other childe of the night and he said to his people that their fires would burn Mekhet twice as badly as any other childe of the night.

But Mekhet did not hear his curse, because he ran as fast as he could to the king of cats to give him the glorious golden collar. The king of cats was pleased with Mekhet and as promised he gave him his sleek black coat of shadows and donned the golden collar around his neck. And that’s how the Mekhet became cursed by the sun, gained the cloak of shadows and the lion got his mane.