Tal'mahe'Ra

The Tal'Mahe'Ra is an organization formed by an unlikely alliance between Chakravanti mages and several vampire lineages (notably Assamites), though its members also include other supernatural creatures besides vampires and mages.   The Tal'mahe'Ra membership included several bloodlines who were more or less exclusive to it. The Tal'Mahe'Ra also employed several revenant families and specifically trained kidnapped children, known as Chatterlings, to become vampires. Chatterlings typically were embraced when they were 23 years old.   Chatterlings were mortal humans, abducted as children by the True Black Hand to be trained as servants and ghouls until they are deemed worthy of being Embraced. Chatterlings are among the most ruthless, insane and skilled of the True Black Hand's members.   Chatterlings are abducted when they are between the ages of 3 and 7 by revenants of the Enrathi family, who select children that they believe have no hope of a "good future". Black Hand leaders take these children to the city of Enoch in the Underworld, where they are presented before the Del'Roh and then given over to the care of taskmasters from the Cult of the Erinyes, a small, all-female group who are responsible for training the chatterling and are also charged with the protection of Enoch.   The chatterlings are thoroughly indoctrinated, intensively trained for hours on end both mentally and physically, and stripped of all humanity at an early age. They are forced to pick and follow a Path of Enlightenment while still human, so that they will be prepared for the Embrace when they reach 23 years old. Chatterlings are allowed to choose their own sires, and thus their own lineage.   The True Black Hand was concerned with two major events: the first is the eventual return of the Antediluvians, and the second was the coming age when vampiric taint would be eliminated from the earth.   The Tal'mahe'Ra's seat of power was located in the fortress-city of Enoch in the Underworld. Members of the sect had the means to pass regularly between the Underworld and the living world. The leader of the True Black Hand, the Del'Roh, resided exclusively in the Underworld.   The Del'Roh is the supreme leader of the True Black Hand and oversees the entire sect.   The True Black Hand had less than 200 members, but claimed to wield considerable power and influence in Kindred affairs through all of the major sects.   The following bloodlines were rare, and almost to a man belonged to the Manus Nigrum. True Brujah The True Brujah are a splinter group in Carthage, devoted to the gathering of knowledge, to philosophy and to fighting against the rage that was the lot of their blood. They foolishly blamed the destruction of Carthage, which resulted in the Final Deaths of many of their elders and the destruction of many of their volumes and much of their research, on their parent lineage and declared themselves True Brujah. The tale of betrayal came only later, as justification for even greater hatred for their parent lineage. After the fall of Carthage they were given shelter by the Tal'mahe'Ra. Dracul There are two main factions of the Dracul, the ones that joined the Tal'mahe'Ra and left for the city of enoch. The other faction stayed in the Carpathian Mountain. Nagaraja The Nagaraja originated in a magical tradition, the Chakravanti. The Idran were originally one of the Chakravanti cults that fought during the Himalayan War, perhaps the greatest necromancers among them. Seeking victory over their enemies, they sought the enlightenment of deathlessness beyond death, following legends of true immortals. Their quest took them to Egypt, where they met the immortal Inauhaten, who offered them the secrets of the Spell of Life in return for sharing his duty as guardian of Enoch. The Idran accepted the bargain, Inauhaten giving them the Spell, but they found that for whatever reason they could not fully comprehend it, so they combined parts of the Spell with their own magics to create their own version, which allowed some of them to become undead sorcerers of tremendous power. To commemorate the sacred trust Inauhaten had given them, the Idran gave their group another name: the Tal'Mahe'Ra.   Enoch was reportedly home to four Antediluvians in torpor. Their exact identities were not known, but they were collectively called the Aralu. The names listed on three of the crypts were Nergal (thought to be [Ventrue]), Ninmug (thought to be [Nosferatu]), and Loz (thought to be [Toreador] the fourth was unknown.   This fourth one was later named Al-Mahri in the Gehenna supplement and later in V20's books; this name, as well as the names "Arikel" and "Ventru", appeared on an inscription on the tombs of the Aralu as detailed in the book Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand.   Their auras were visible with Auspex but still they were impossible to find. It was said that Loz had already awakened though and was just waiting for the right moment to rise.