Semioticians

Not all Acolytes believe that there is a Crone who created the Kindred. Some believe that the teachings of the Circle capture very important truths about the Kindred condition and the proper relationship between vampires and the living, but that the legends expressing those are mere metaphors.
The Semioticians believe that Crúac is a real power, and really works. It also really works for them; they can perform the rituals just as effectively as those who truly believe in the literal existence of The Crone. This belief guarantees the Semioticians’ acceptance within the covenant as a whole, although their relationship with individual Hierarchs may be strained, or even hostile.
The Semioticians themselves have no intention of leaving the Circle. While they think that the legends are only metaphors, they think that they are the right metaphors. They would not even consider joining The Lancea Sanctum, and feel that the Carthians and Invictus are missing something important. Many Semioticians do, however, find the teachings of The Ordo Dracul attractive, as discussed below.

Myth and Legend

The faction has no foundation myth. Or, from a different perspective, it has every foundation myth current in the covenant. The members of this faction are fascinated by the legends told in the covenant, and interested in learning as many of them as possible.
This fascination arises directly from their conviction that the legends are not literally true. If a vampire believes that the story of Amaterasu is literally true, there is no need to learn the other legends, because they are merely distorted versions of the facts. On the other hand, if a vampire believes that all legends are equally metaphors, she has a good reason to learn as many as possible. Every metaphor casts a different light on the hidden truth, and the more legends you know, the deeper your understanding.
This attitude also breeds a great deal of respect for the legends. The Semioticians do not see the covenant’s myths as stories told for their entertainment value. Rather, they are the expression of profound insights into the vampiric condition. Most believe that it is impossible to express those insights in simple, straightforward Language, and that myth is the only option. A few believe that a simple exposition may be possible, but it is certainly extremely difficult, and learning as many myths as possible is a vital first step.
Either way, a myth expresses wisdom, and those who understand it have a particular kind of wisdom lacked by those who do not. Thus, Semioticians genuinely believe that they are taught wisdom by the Kindred from whom the Semioticians learn legends they do not believe. They never mock, never criticize, never point out logical Flaws. Metaphors, after all, may gain even more power from being logically incoherent.
One notable scholar of the faction has said that “the Embrace sounds like the night changing its mind” is a powerful metaphor, one in which many Kindred see a deep truth, despite the facts that changing your mind is not the sort of thing that makes a sound and that the night has no mind to change. Compared to that, a legend that has a deity doing an implausible number of things in one night is quite reasonable, and thus can carry an equal truth.
This respectful attitude means that many priests are willing to teach the Semioticians. Many hope that the misguided Kindred will see the literal truth of their legends, but even if they do not there is no loss in planting the seeds of truth in the mind of a respectful student.
Similarly, the Semioticians are prepared to go through painful initiations in order to learn new myths. They believe that tribulation literally brings enlightenment, and that there is enlightenment to be found in the knowledge of myths, particularly secret ones. In almost all cases, a Semiotician refuses to teach a secret myth to a vampire who has not undergone the initiation; the wisdom contained in it can only be properly understood by those who have undergone the requisite trials.

Rites and Rituals

As would be expected, the Semioticians take rituals from many different traditions. As with the myths and legends, the Semioticians do not believe that the rituals have a literal effect. Nevertheless, they do believe that rituals have an effect, and a powerful one, derived from the influence of the rite on the psychology of the Kindred involved. That effect, the Semioticians hold, is important if Kindred are to deal with the strains of the Requiem, and can only be gained if the rite is performed with due ceremony and reverence.
Individual Semioticians choose the rites they like the best. This preference may be aesthetic, cultural or purely a matter of familiarity. Some Semioticians take all of their rites from a single tradition, believing that the whole is then greater than the sum of its parts, and that picking and choosing means losing something vital. Others believe that different traditions have different strengths, and that by picking and choosing you can assemble a set of rituals far more effective than any single tradition.
Others argue that, as every Kindred is different, the most effective rites are also different from one vampire to the next. These Semioticians try out many different rites, generally over a period of some years, testing to see which speak most clearly to them. Some of these vampires go so far as to design their own rituals.
Opinions in the faction are divided over this practice, and it is a popular topic of debate when members gather. On the one hand, if the rites are only metaphors, creating new metaphors should be possible. Thus, there is nothing wrong with doing this in principle. On the other hand, if the rites encode great wisdom, the creator of a new rite had betterhave that wisdom to encode. Some Semioticians feel that creating your own rites is arrogant, and a sign that you lack the necessary wisdom. Others point out, reasonably, that someone had to do it.
In general, a neonate creating his own rites is snubbed by other members of the faction, and effectively cast out. A neonate cannot have enough understanding of the Requiem to create an effective ritual. On the other hand, rituals created by elders are accepted by most members as likely to have something of value. A few elders go so far as to create a whole system of legends and rituals based on their own understanding of the Requiem, and then publish the system to the rest of the faction. This is not the same as creating a cult, as none of these elders expect many, if any, other Semioticians to adopt the system wholesale.
Ancillae often experiment with creating rituals, and most members believe that is acceptable, possibly even necessary. An ancilla who shows great wisdom and understanding of the Requiem may even be asked to explain his ritual to others, and this is often an early sign that the faction, at least, has begun to regard someone as an elder.
Whatever the pattern of rituals a Kindred adopts, the Semioticians’ attitude to their rituals is somewhat different from that of those who believe that they have literal power. Because there is no external force supporting the ritual, most Semioticians aim for a double effect inperformance: the inward effect of the ritual itself and a purely practical effect on the world.
As one example, it is almost universal for Semioticians to feed as part of a ritual that sacrifices blood. They rarely hunt in a non-ritual manner, as they feel that they might as well get the benefits of the ritual as well as the benefits of blood. Acolytes in other traditions rarely apply the rituals so universally, feeling that it is inappropriate to extend the sacred everywhere.
Similarly, in a ritual that requires a sacrifice of objects, a Semiotician might sacrifice items stolen from an enemy. That meets the requirement of sacrificing something that would be valuable to the Kindred, but serves to weaken an enemy at least as much as it weakens the sacrificer.
Some of the more literal believers in the Circle hold that this attitude cheapens, or even profanes, the rituals. Most Semioticians argue that this is the point when it is important to remember that the rituals are only metaphors; weakening yourself for a metaphorical gain is foolish, and should be avoided.

Crúac

Crúac fascinates the Semioticians, because it obviously has literal power. Almost every member of the faction knows some Crúac, and all want to learn. Many of them become Crúac theorists, an attitude that marks them out within the covenant.
Most ritualists perform the ritual exactly as they were taught, not worrying about the underlying mechanisms, and simply accepting the power as a gift from The Crone. Semioticians want to understand what makes Crúac different.They are often less interested in the simple power.
Thus, a Semiotician might choose to learn a single Crúac ritual with a clear effect, such as Rigor Mortis. He then varies the actions he takes to cast it, testing each combination several times as he tries to work out what is necessary. The goal is to find out what, precisely, is necessary to make the ritual work.
This Research has produced results that confuse the issue further. Some Semioticians have created Crúac rites that work only for themselves, although the effects match commonly known rituals. Other Semioticians have created two ways of performing the same rite that have absolutely nothing in common apart from the intent of the Kindred performing the ritual. It is, however, well-known that the intent of the Kindred is not sufficient to turn any arbitrary performance into an effective Crúac ritual.
Others learn as many rites as they can, in the hope of finding some common factor that will allow them to create new rituals at will. This line of Research has been a complete failure; while a few Kindred have learned new Crúac rituals, this has never been as a result of their results and study. The only bright point is that engaging in this Research does seem to make a Kindred more sensitive tothe inspirations that grant knowledge of new rituals.

Philosophy

The Semioticians throw themselves wholeheartedly into the philosophy of the Circle. The twin principles of tribulation and creation are not metaphors; they are what all the rituals, myths and legends are metaphors for.
The Semioticians place a particularly strong rhetorical emphasis on the creation of new metaphors, as these bring increased wisdom to the Kindred and to others. However, as noted earlier, the Semioticians are much more cautious about this in practice, as a Kindred must have wisdom before he can impart wisdom. Thus, Semioticians produce art, tend gardens and guide Crucibles, just as other members of the Circle do.
The Semioticians also place great value on tribulation. Tribulation brings enlightenment, and enlightenment allows a vampire to create his own metaphors, bringing greater understanding and greater power. This is partly manifest in the Semioticians’ willingness to suffer through the initiation rites of multiple sub-cults within the covenant in order to learn new metaphors. Many risk everything for the chance at greater knowledge.
This enthusiasm for the Circle’s core beliefs is another important reason why the group is generally accepted. The Semioticians very obviously are Acolytes, even if their beliefs are a bit strange.

Role

The Semioticians have come to play a very important role within the covenant. They are its internal diplomats and ambassadors, linking together groups with very different specific beliefs about The Crone and keeping the whole covenant unified.
Many Acolytes find it difficult to deal with other Acolytes who have obviously wrong beliefs. They want to educate them, or occasionally exterminate them. The Semioticians have no such problem; they are willing to learn from anyone, and treat everyone with respect. Covenant elders who know, intellectually, that the covenant should stay together as a unified force, often entrust Semioticians with the task of making sure that there is some co-ordination.
Thus, Semioticians often find themselves sent as ambassadors to different cities. While they are, fundamentally, no more willing to travel than other Kindred, many have Contacts in the other city already, and the opportunity to learn new myths, legends and rites is a powerful draw. As a result, Semioticians are more likely than most Acolytes to volunteer for the job.
In recent times, the covenant elders have also come to realize that the Semioticians make good ambassadors to the other covenants, as well. An ambassador who can say, with perfect honesty, that he doesn’t believe in some sort of dark spirit that created all the Kindredoften sounds rather less threatening to a largely secular Carthian. Even when dealing with the Sanctified, the Semioticians are less likely to feel that they have to get into a theological debate.