Revelations of the Dark Mother: Seeds from the Twilight Garden

Vampire: the Masquerade

by Phil Brucato, Rachelle Udell

Even The Book of Nod speaks of her but little. She is Lilith, the Dark Queen, the Harlot of the Damned. It was she, some whisper, who taught Caine his shadowed gifts. And it is she, the legends continue, who will rise to herald the Final Nights, the great Gehenna.Come, childer, and hear the Dark Mothers tale.

Embraces Her Children for the Final Nights

A Book of Nod-style tome of vampire myths and history, Revelations of the Dark Mother explores the heretofore ignored legends of Lilith, the Dark Queen. Learn of the hidden Lilith-cults that have existed down through the ages. Discover a new telling of the Vampire creation myth, and guess at what is yet to come in the night.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Horror, Fantasy, World Of Darkness, Vampires, Gaming, Fiction

123 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 1998

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come, descend, ye spirits of shells,
Ye friends of broken light!
Come and embrace the gift of Caine,
I call for death
I will for death.
Come, descend, fragments of sorrows.
-Malediction: Queen of Hells

The Book of Nod very clearly lays out the foundational myths of vampire society. First there was Caine, cursed by G-d, who became a vampire and from him to all the vampires descend. Lilith is mentioned, but vanishes after Caine leaves her presence. But hints are dropped of vampires who follow Lilith instead of Caine and have their own strange rites and customs, and here's their equivalent gospel.

Kind of. While The Book of Nod is mostly verse except for the account of the Second City at the end, Revelations of the Dark Mother is a mixture of different accounts. It begins with the Genesis Fragment, a supposed alternate account of creation with much more Gnostic influence. The Ancient One destroys and recreates the world every 55,555 years, and when it opens its eyes, the Shining Ones are created: Bes, Dionysius, Ra, Baal, and so on, including the strongest ancient one, the Biblical god. All of them create gardens and peoples. Adam and Lilith are created as one creature then separated, and eventually Lilith is banished from the garden.

Here Lucifer is the angel who guards Eden, and Lilith becomes the Biblical god's lover, and then Lucifer's lover, before wandering into the wilderness to create her own gardens. It's there that Caine finds her. He learns from her, and abandons her with curses, and then later returns to burn down her garden and slaughter her children. And so it is that the modern version of Lilith's devotees, the Bahari, believe in enlightenment through suffering.

One of the complaints leveled against Vampire as a setting is that there's a bit too much certainty in the mythology. Unlike Mage, where it's unclear what happened in the past--and where the past is quite possibly unknowable because of the way the consensus changes reality--Vampire is set. Caine, First City, thirteen Clans, the works. This book helps to shake that up a bit by reframing the Caine myth in a new context. Is Caine the glorious founder who gained his powers through strength of will and pride, or is he the vicious monster who returned with his get to slaughter his way through the sanctuary of the woman who taught him what he knows? Is it both? What happened, in the unknowable prehistory of the World of Darkness?

A little mystery is a great thing in an RPG.

The rest of the book is a series of various accounts with editorial comments. There's the account of Lilith, which mentions Caine and her pain over her lost gardens but not any of the parts from the Genesis Fragment, which makes me wonder if that was an attempt to fit pre-existing myths of the Dark Mother into the Caine mythology. There's a Bahari ceremony involving mortals ceremonially dressed up as the thirteen Clans who scourge celebrants representing Lilith's children before themselves being destroyed (except for Nosferatu and Toreador, who did not participate in the slaughter). There's an account of medieval tortures of a captured Lamia and how she cried out praises to Lilith when the hot irons were applied and vomited a corrosive black bile onto the arm of her torturers until they abandoned their attempts and walled her up and burned down the castle. And a malediction on the children of Caine, part of which I quoted above.

I also like how the cult of Lilith is presented as a secret cross-supernatural uniting factor. Vampires, mortals, and mages are all mentioned as members, but there are some hints of werecreatures as well through their connection to the moon. And you can say that it makes no sense for Garou to be Lilith cultists and you'd be right. But Lupines? That's another story entirely.

The major problem I have with Revelations of the Dark Mother is that it's just not as quotable as The Book of Nod is. Even discounting how much of it is endnotes and editorial commentary, a lot of the existing parts are either prose or invented chants to Lilith, which are mostly going to sound silly at the gaming table because you aren't performing them in the depths of winter in a thorn-and-bramble-strewn clearing with a bonfire on one side and a pool of water on the other. "Ahi Hay Lilitu" is nice for color and for cluing the PCs in that whoever they're dealing with is weird, especially it happens more than once in more than one context, but other than that, there's nothing on the order of, "In the beginning there was only Caine," and because of that it's not that interesting to read as a text.

It's fun as game background, though. Read it once and mix some of it into vampire games to imply a wider world beyond the PCs. That's one of the best parts of the oWoD--the idea that there was always something more out there, just out of sight, that maybe you could never understand.

[Dimitra · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! What a story!
I loved everything about it, especially the artwork!
I don't get it, though... Why does everyone keep talking about Caine's story and not about Lilith's?! It pisses me off!!! Caine is such an overestimated bastard...
AHI HAY LILITU!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic Premise: A supplement for Vampire: TM RPG, written as a tome of lore about Lilith.

Like other books put out by White Wolf, this is intended to be a combination of background info/flavor material for players to read and a prop for games. It is written as if it were an actual book in the World of Darkness, not as if it were a gaming supplement. The information within isn't vital to running or playing, but it can definitely add to a game and I definitely recommend reading it if you plan to run a game. Probably even if you're not running, but playing. Fun stuff.

[Natalie Cannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

As I said in my review of The Book of Nod, found here, I've decided to read books from the tabletop setting Vampire: the Masquerade for my 2020 GoodReads Challenge. I'm attempting to go in a sort-of chronological timeline of my favorite character Cuthbert Beckett's life.

The Book of Nod deals with the popular theory of vampires' genesis, and Revelations of the Dark Mother is advertised as a twisted mirror version of it. The Book of Nod focuses on the masculine Caine, the triumphs of civilization, and how to live a good undead life. Revelations of the Dark Mother focuses on the feminine Lilith, the chaos of nature, and how to cause harm. Nod's stories are accepted by vampires worldwide as containing truth; the Revelations' myths are only believed by a volatile fringe group known as the Bahari.

For those who are semi-familiar with real world theology, the Barhari and their teachings will remind of a loose group of faithful who center their worship on the feminine and believe that the only way to experience enlightenment is through pain. I was reminded of Catholic religious who practice flagellation to clear the mind & meditate; fasting during Lent so that one may have a physical reminder of one's devotion to God; or the Greek cults of worship to Hestia, Hecate, and other female goddesses.

And it is a very great pity that, with the above paragraph, I just put more thought into the Bahari philosophy than the book's author did.

I DNF Revelations of the Dark Mother at page 18 because I read this with my own two eyes:

"Although their allegiance to Lilith might make the Bahari seem like natural feminists, the truth is far more complex. Female does not necessarily equal exalted. On the contrary--most women, in the Bahari view, are descendants of Eve, the third and most inferior woman. Created from lonely Adam, lacking Lilith's original gifts and her divine gestation, these women really are the cheap cattle that misogynists scorn. Until and unless a woman consumes the Mother's blood and takes her Oath, that woman is an animal--worthwhile in her own way, certainly, but far below the Bahari."

What. The. Fuck.

There are SO many things going wrong that I could be here all day. Misogyny is not complex: it's the boring, banal pain that almost every person on the planet experiences every damn day, unless he's a cishet white man. How can one claim to worship the first woman and not see women as people? How does a philosophy, which paints itself as counter-cultural and in opposite to the masculine-dominated Caine stories, get to make those claims when it spouts the patriarchal norm?

On a meta-level, why is the author going out of his way to assure misogynists that they have a place among the Bahari? Is that the demographic White Wolf wants playing their games? Also: while they did try to disguise it under pen names, why on EARTH did White Wolf not hire a woman to write this book? Hello??? I realize this was published in 1998, but that seems like such a no brainer. Female fans of VTM exist.

It hit me in a flash: Revelations of the Dark Mother is bullshit. The author does not care about theology, or female VTM fans. He likes slasher horror movies, where the serial killer tries to teach their victims a "lesson" by torturing them. This isn't like high-vaulted Greek myths, or a darker twist on Catholicism. It's just. Torture Porn. A misogynist typing out 60 pages of drivel like a monkey at a typewriter. Uncreative. Not worth anyone's time.

Dear God, I hope the Victorian Trilogy goes better.

[5uccubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Lo, Eve's eyes were opened as if blinded by a burst of fire; and she was cast down as if by a blow; and she wept for the things she understood. And Lilith coiled about Eve to comfort her; and Eve held the Serpent like a lover; and they did know each other in the shadow of the Tree of Knowledge."

"O knight with seraphim's wings,
Dressed black like the sky you gave me,
Heart like the star for which you are named,
Eyes like the sunset waves,
Call to me through darkness.
Shed your blood to feed my thirst and take mine,
As offerings to your hunger."

[Ovipositor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nearly twenty years (!) after I first purchased and read this book, and find it as disagreeable now as then.

The path to a woman's wisdom is through rape and suffering? I think perhaps not.

Even taken as an in-game example of the wrongheadedness of the cults to be found in the World of Darkness, I found it disagreeable.

[Anscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

All hail the Dark Mother! Ahi hay Lilitu!

Quite a lot wordier than the Book of Nod, which made it tougher and longer to get through, but still I really enjoyed experiencing the 'real' story of Adam and Eve and of the original 'First woman' who was cast aside.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sarcastic commentary of the author really helps to maintain the "Hey, This is about a fictional religious sect" that can very quickly be forgotten. I'm surprised at the attention to detail within this text and its ability to mimic other non-fiction religious studies texts.

[Etienne Naudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally expected something more but enjoyable nonetheless.

Artwork is good as well.

Good sourcebook to include elements in the game.

[Zachary DeFoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good contrast to the Book of Nod. I enjoyed it.

[Lisa Gallagher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book in a remote little store in Western Texas, about twelve years ago. Apparently, it's a companion piece to some kind of game. I picked it up because I was interested in the Lilith mythology. This book equates her as the mother of all vampires, but the section that talks about the legend and her connection to Cain/Nod was fascinating. Illustrated.

Strange: I show Rachel Dolium as the author on the spine of the book, Phil Brucato and Rachelle Udell as the co-authors on the copyright page and here, on GoodReads, it shows the author as Andrea Blacksin. What gives?

[Mark Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for strange, dark, mythic writings for use in your Vampire: the Masquerade game, then this is the book for you. If you aren't, then there isn't much point. This little tome is a fairly well illustrated, fairly well written, but ultimately forgetable trip on the World of Darkness's mythic dark side.

[Marcin Kopczyński · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvel for all fans of Vampire

[Liz H {Redd's Reads} · Rating 4 out of 5]

I also used this for the same Biblical allusions project!