Kherineth

(Or Reclamation)

"What God has given, his servants reclaim in his name, for you have shown yourself unworthy." -English translation of the Azaim ritual judgment Kherineth could translate literally as "taking," but for vampires it refers to the practice of consuming another vampire's blood to the point of killing them. This transfers power, and an element of the destroyed vampire's consciousness, to the consumer. It is highly taboo-- unless one is a member of the Azaim.

The distinction between sanctioned cha'kherineth (what the Azaim do) and unsanctioned zakh'kherineth is one of legality, similar to the distinction between "repossession" and "theft" -- a certain group of people have the right to do an act that would otherwise be considered criminal. In English, cha'kherineth is usually translated as "reclamation," and that word will be frequently used below.

Both Azaes and the Azaim have intentionally fostered certain misinformation about kherineth, and there are important distinctions between what the average vampire believes about it, what the Azaim believe about it, and the objective truth of the matter.

Reclamation: A Bloody, heh heh, History
During Azaes's first, maddened attempts to create other immortals, he destroyed many of his initial 'experiments'-- sometimes out of an arguable form of mercy when they suffered breakdowns, other times out of sheer frustration and anger. To Azaes, it seemed suiting that he destroy his unsatisfactory creations in a reverse of how he had created them-- taking back the gift of his blood that he had given, in the most literal way.

As time went on and the ranks of vampires began to grow, conflicts inevitably broke out among his offspring. With the craving for blood as a factor, it was natural that some fights ended in lethal draining. It was discovered then that this led to the victor becoming more powerful, and also receiving some fraction of the defeated vampire's consciousness/essence/soul-- something Azaes himself had not noticed, being already so powerful that the energy he received from reclaiming his own offspring's essence did not truly register to him, and similarly barely noticing the tiny intrusions of subordinate consciousnesses against his own superhuman will.

The discovery kicked off an every-man-for-himself battle for blood, not just of humans, but of each other-- for the blood of one's fellow vampires was stronger than that of mere mortals, more tempting, and winning it for yourself lent you an inarguable edge against your fellows. All discipline and alliances evaporated under what could be best described as a frenzied, species-wide episode of winner-take-all. Even those who initially found the practice abhorrent were forced to participate out of self-preservation, or to quickly lose their life to another, less scrupulous vampire.

This was the Third Catastrophe, and by the end of it Azaes destroyed the last survivors of his created before they could finish destroying each other... or attempt to turn on him.

When he started again, he did so having codified this act as explicitly forbidden-- to any but himself, of course-- and presented kherineth to his new creations in the most dire terms possible, portraying it as leading inexorably to madness and a bestial, uncontrollable state. This perception is still more or less the received wisdom among vampires today-- that engaging in this 'cannibalism' is highly dangerous to a 'regular' vampire, and that any benefits it might convey are far outweighed by the risks. (Objectively, while kherineth is psychologically stressful, the consequences aren't as clear-cut or predetermined as Azaes's propaganda on it.)

Azaes continued to practice reclamation, but more sparingly, electing to use it as an 'ultimate sanction' with attendant dread, ceremony, and significance for his followers (as opposed to the pragmatic-if-ruthless way he had used it previously as a simple disposal technique). Lesser crimes might still be lethally punished, but Azaes sought to harness the psychological impact of having something 'worse than death' to use as a punishment.

Throughout most of Azaes's repeated attempts to rebuild his kingdom, he usually had a personal, elite guard, in an attempt to recreate the 'Red Guard' of Atla. He dubbed these individuals the Azaim, reflecting their primary loyalty to himself above all other considerations, and through successive Catastrophes and his rebuilding efforts after each one, Azaes gradually reframed his attempts to create a personal guard into something more like a cult, who were not merely loyal, but fanatical.

The psychology of fanaticism hinges on being able to perceive one's self as better than the general populace-- as special, set apart, given both special priveleges and duties. Azaes duly ensured his Azaim had various luxuries and rights, and ultimately hit on the idea of extending the right of reclamation to them as well, an idea that had several benefits:


 * It made his personally chosen vampires more powerful than their kindred
 * It increased the fear of his elite guard among the 'normal' vampires
 * It furthered the cult-like loyalty of his Azaim, that their 'God' gave	them dispensation to engage in this dangerous act, further setting themselves apart from the less-special populace
 * It also meant that Azaes could dispatch his enforcers globally if 'the	ultimate sanction' was needed somewhere, rather than having to personally attend to each instance; they had already been his eyes	and ears, but now they were empowered to deliver his judgment as well

As for the supposed madness... Azaes worked with the first of the Azaim to whom he gave this 'privelege,' creating mental links with them in order to observe precisely what happened as they absorbed additional minds, or the remnants of minds. Azaes refined and developed certain mental disciplinary tools-- what might today be classed as 'mindfulness training'-- and taught these to the Azaim, in order to enable them to weather the stresses of reclamation and of multiple consciousnesses.

The prevailing wisdom among both the Azaim and, to some degree, the general populace, is that Azaes essentially 'blessed' the Azaim with the ability to Reclaim without going mad-- i.e., it is not a teachable method or skillset, but rather, something innate to being an Azaim, that allows one to function despite engaging in a practice that would drive anyone else mad.*

(*Some of the general populace may take some issue with the idea that the Azaim are not mad.)

The objective truth is somewhere in a vague state between the poles: it is in fact a teachable skillset, but the simplest way of learning it is to be able to absorb it via blood transfer with the Azaim, and the exact degree to which this might be considered a part of the process of becoming Azaim, vs something that could be replicated without their involvement, is debatable. Suffice to say it is much, much, much harder if you are not one of the Azaim.

Originally, the Azaim would receive individual approval from Azaes for each case in which they chose to dispense his ultimate sanction. An individual who had allegedly transgressed might be confronted by an Azaiad and detained, but the Azaiad would present the evidence to Azaes, and the individual would be allowed to make a counter-case, before the condemnation would become final. However, as the global population continued to rise, the Azaim were granted more and more dispensation to make "field judgments" themselves, and vested with the authority to act as both judge, jury, and executioner.

(Since the disappearance of Azaes, the Azaim cannot of course appeal directly to him even if they wished to. Accordingly, all reclamations they have made in the last eight hundred years have been by necessity solely at their own discretion. [But they have a lot of faith in their own discretion.])

Over time, the Azaim transitioned from a body of vampires who had the right to practice reclamation, but were still largely sustained by mortal blood, into a body of vampires who subsist wholly on vampiric blood. This has made them incredibly powerful, even as their actual numbers have dwindled. (See Azaim for a full history.)

Currently, cha'kherineth is only practiced by the Azaim. Those who practice zakh'kherineth tend to be unable to hide it long-term, for a variety of factors. The punishment for zakh'kherineth is death; however, the Azaim are the only ones authorized to carry out enforcement and execution for this specific crime (a stricture that Azaes created in part to help keep up the mystique and dread surrounding the practice, and in part to allow the Azaim to evaluate such persons as prospective Azaim).

Details
Kherineth, whether cha'  or zakh', has one extremely obvious physical signifier: a vampire who has consumed another vampire will have blackened eyes with no white or visible iris, and will also be unable to 'appear human' (i.e, their fangs will be visible). However, consuming a human after one consumes a vampire gets rid of this problem and allows for a normal appearance again. This tell is accordingly only useful as a diagnostic if one happens to catch sight of a vampire very shortly after they have committed reclamation, before they have a chance to feed on a human. (The Azaim, of course, do not bother to hide this symptom from their fellow vampires.)

A vampire's blood can signify that they have engaged in kherineth. In a rough sense, a vampire's blood will taste 'stronger' based on their age-- it's not an exact science, but in general, the age of a vampire could be guessed within fifty years or so by someone with access to their blood. Therefore, blood that is drastically stronger than it "should" be could be an indicator that its owner had consumed another vampire.

Displaying power beyond what is typical for one's age-- or sign-- would also be a potential indicator. (A newly turned Wind sign should not be able to levitate an automobile, etc., and most Blades shouldn't be able to pick up the thoughts of those around them.)

If suspicion of zakh'kherineth were raised, it would typically be brought to the attention of the master of the given territory, or to a jad, or to someone else in a position of authority. Since practicioners of zakh'kherineth are considered dangerous, the average vampire would not try to confront such an individual on their own barring exceptional circumstances-- the territorial master would consider what the next step should be, whether that was a cautious attempt to learn more or an immediate notification of a jad. Ultimately, the Azaim would probably be involved-- they would determine absolutely if zakh'kherineth had taken place, and, in confirmed cases, kill the accused (via their own reclamation). The conventional wisdom is that all such offenders are killed; that the Azaim occasionally recruit from these very offenders is not widely known.