Blood Communion

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In White Wolf Game Studio's role-playing games set in the World of Darkness, the Blood Communion is the act of offering and drinking the blood of a vampire (vitae), understood as a sacrament. The Blood Communion is the central practice of the Cainite Heresy, representing the gift of blood from Caine, and it is an unholy equivalent to the Christian Eucharist.

The Blood Communion may be administered by a Heretic priest during a special ceremony or common Mass. In this case the liturgical chalice is filled with vampiric blood and the attendants drink from it knowingly. After three or more doses, humans who have received the Communion become ghouls, addicted to vitae.

This practice is sometimes performed without knowledge of the subjects. The vitae can be mixed with wine by the priest (secretly an adept of the Heresy) and given to unsuspecting humans, who will not understand their own urge for blood until it is too late. The priest himself may be ignorant; a servant of the Heresy might have introduced some vitae into the chalice.

It must be noted that True Faith destroys the efficacy of the sacrament. If an unknowning priest believes sincerely in the Eucharist and pronounces the consecration formula correctly, any vitae hidden in the wine will be rendered useless, free of supernatural power.

[edit] Sources

• Vampire: The Dark Ages - Cainite Heresy (ISBN 1-56504-296-4), © White Wolf Publishing, Inc.