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+====== Kiss of the Succubus - Daeva ======
+**Kiss of the Succubus – Daeva** is a splatbook for [[lb:cod:vampire]] focused on the [[lb:cod:daeva]]. It was made for the 1st Edition and there is no official 2nd Edition equivalent.
+This whole article is effectively a review and, if it isn't obvious, I'm taking inspiration from [[lb:no in nwod]].
+{{tag>cod}}
+===== Notes =====
+==== Focus ====
+The review is mostly focused around the lore (which I have read) and leaving the mechanics out of the way. The book is overwhemingly fluff over crunch, so I don't see a particular issue with taking the same approach here.
+==== Structure ====
+Since the entire article is a review, I guess I should kinda explain the structure.
+The first main section is pretty self-explanatory: the [[#Summary]]. It sums up the main points of the book and, if you don't care about further details, is all you really ‘need’ to read.
+The second main section goes by the parts of the book ‘chapter’ by ‘chapter’. I summarize what happens in each one, while injecting my thoughts and any issues I find.
+The third main section is the conclusion, where I guess I'll re-iterate what I stated in the summary?
+===== Summary =====
+When I first started to properly read it, I had assumed it would be good. The main reason I thought so was because I skimmed thru it a few times prior. Those times I happened to zero-in on the bits that were kinda cool and interesting, which we'll get to.\\
+Plus I had assumed the [[lb:cod|new World of Darkness]] wouldn't be that cringy or off to read.
+But...yeah, no.
+Is the book bad? Yeah, kinda. But it's also good in a few key ways that actually would make it worth owning. Physically. Especially for someone like me.
+I'll get something out of the way first: This critique of mine doesn't make a lot of sense if you assume – as White Wolf does – that the World of Darkness is all-horror all the time. And that that also applies to the tone of the game and most of the other gamelines. But my critique //does// make sense if you actually take a serious look at the world and think about it reasonably. Y'know, like for my [[lb:wnotes:vampires]] and [[lb:wnotes:succubus]]. Both of those articles are semi-related and I may refer to them every now and again.\\
+Because a lot of this comes down to the fact that what White Wolf sees in the Daeva is radically different from what the Daeva are actually like...in the lore that they themselves wrote.
+We'll get to //that// in the conclusion. The sum of it is that the Daeva's core theme isn't ‘lust’ or ‘sex’ but ‘passion’.\\
+All (five of) the vampire clans in Requiem represent a broad archetype and theme of the vampire in fiction. The Daeva are the archetype of the seducer, but their theme is passion.\\
+Passion, however, doesn't //just// encompass sex...it encompasses //a lot//.\\
+The fact that the book //only seems to focus on the sex// is one of the big issues: it's a huge missed opportunity from the perspective of a Storyteller or player.
+Of course, besides that, there are a few other problems: it's pretty (painfully) obvious that the authors were injecting their own sexual fantasies into the story. There's one in particular that'll haunt me to the end of my days.\\
+They also don't know how to write women. Most of the women who talk are lesbians/bisexual or hedonistic. This is especially ironic considering there's an in-character note later in the book that seems to call out male authors who write women as strippers on the one hand and romance-starved starry-eyed girls on the other. Both of the authors are male.((:fn:>There's a point to be made that one of them now goes by ‘Rose’ instead of ‘Russel’ and while I couldn't find //any// information related to that at all, I think it's safe to say that this author is transgender. Which actually reflects //even worse// on the book and the author. Because, y'know, transgender Males-to-Females are stereotyped as weird sexual deviants.))((:fn:>I'm also suspecting that one of the authors is gay or bisexual, with me leaning towards the transgender one being so. I think this because there are too many instances of men ‘being gay’ to state it bluntly. Kevin feels good being checked out in the gay bar. There's are a few descriptions of penises and erections. The Collector kisses his male ghoul. And this even matches the ‘Adrian’ storyline a bit.)) And it's pretty obvious they subscribe to the ideology of [[lb:socjus]], though it thankfully isn't //that// big in here. It's still the case though that whenever two women interact (whether vampire or mortal) they are either doing something sexual or there is some sexual tension. This //also// applies to the males, by the way, just that it's more subtle.\\
+So, basically, this follows the standard depiction of sexy vampires as ‘punk-ish’ and ‘whore-ish’.
+Now onto more positive stuff. The fluff part of the book is presented as a series of papers that are collected by an old vampire. I started calling him the ‘Collector’ while I was reading and, as it turns out, that's what the authors call him as well. He had gone missing at some point (not revealed where/why until the end) and it's clear that somebody (or multiple somebodies) are going thru the papers after the fact. I'm guessing there are at least three people. We know this because they add their own notes.\\
+I was gonna level a criticism here related to those notes...but then I realized that it actually //is// possible to figure out who it is. If you don't want it spoiled, I'll have those answers in the footnotes (spoiled). It just required some thinking on my part.\\
+Some of them are more obvious than others.((:fn:>The notes come in two forms: those written in the margins and those written on sticky notes.))((:fn:>The notes in the margins are probably written by the Collector and <wrap spoiler>his ‘daughter’: Ayesha</wrap>. I say this because it makes the most sense in-universe (and to me), though I could be wrong.))((:fn:>The sticky notes come in four different forms: yellow, green, red-ish and blue. The red-ish ones are almost certainly <wrap spoiler>written by Nic</wrap>; the yellow ones are written by the Collector; the blue ones are <wrap spoiler>written by Cat</wrap>; I wasn't sure who wrote the green ones, but now I think it was <wrap spoiler>the ghoul who we see at the end</wrap>.))\\
+But, basically, it's a series of papers with notes. Not all written by the same in-universe author, but all broadly related to the Daeva: their history, culture, some adventures, etc.
+And this is what I like the most about the book, because I really like the idea of collecting information like this into a ‘scrapbook’ and then reading thru it. It's just that all of the individual stories are a bit too disconnected for my liking. As in: a collection of individual bits, rather than a whole being assembled from a series of notes.
+The book is a bit disorienting at first, but you get used to it by the time you reach the end.
+Having gotten to the mechanics part of the book (which is hilariously short compared to the rest)...yeah, I think what's there is solid.((:fn:>One that I may have a slight issue with is ‘Night Life’ because it's a bit like the Blush of Life, but lasts a whole night. There are supposed downsides, but they aren't explicitly stated mechanically. I just wouldn't, as a Storyteller.))((:fn:>This part also states that Majesty is so inherent to the Daeva that it's used unconsciously, which I guess makes some sense. Though I don't really buy it.)) However, just like with the fluff, there is an uncomfortable amount of sex-talk in that section. As in, basically every merit has some mention of sex. However, I'm also now seeing how some of those mechanics were integrated into the fluff in the first half of the book (seeing what it might look like in practice) which elevates the fluff slightly.
+I'd say that the entire book is about 50/50 in quality: there is //a lot// of bad, but the few good and the way it's presented...possibly redeems it? I would prefer that the content of the book be majorly re-written, is how I'd put it. The artwork is high quality too, though I'll admit that I don't like it that much. I like the art of the comic tracts and the cover the most...everything else I don't' really //like//...but that's down to my personal taste, rather than a commentary on the quality.\\
+The style of writing is also quite pleasant. I'd describe it as utilitarian, but not flat. A style that I think is quite nice. This'll be a theme of the Chronicles of Darkness books if/when I write about the others in the future.\\
+There are pretty serious worldbuilding hiccups and most of the characters are unsympathetic so, from that angle, I'm not super happy.\\
+Also, it made me realize that while I //thought// the Chronicles of Darkness had a more toolbox approach, it wasn't //as much of a toolbox// as I would have hoped.
+===== Bit-by-Bit =====
+Now it's time for the super fun section: here I go thru each story individually, summarizing and commenting as I go along. Yay!
+==== Kevin ====
+The first major story in the clanbook – and where a lot of interesting lore is concentrated – is related to Kevin.\\
+Kevin...is an //asshole// who cheats on his girlfriend after he claims to have been seduced by a sexy vampire – Madael, Mad. The notes he left behind are those that he wrote for himself to recount events and gather information on vampires.\\
+Why? Y'see, his vampire girlfriend dumped him and disappeared (dump via disappearance). This led Kevin to have a mental breakdown, following which he decided to gather as much information on vampires as he could find. All for the express purpose of finding Mad again, because he's a junkie and he needs that pussy.
+The story is most compelling near the end of it, where Mad is gone and Kevin is going insane trying to find her. At that point he ends up in danger a few times and has figured out ways of identifying vampires.\\
+His various observations are very interesting to read about and I'd consider it one of the major highlights of the book. It's a mix of <q>“huh, neat”</q> and <q>“Okay, that's a bit creepy...”</q> which makes it fun to read.\\
+However...then you read the ‘flirting’...and then all the sex stuff...and you get clinical depression.
+If you don't believe me, let me show you this ‘flirting’ directly:
+<blockquote>
+When she finally dragged her eyes away from my ass, we started talking, me flirting on reflex, she just playing with her food.
+“People often get distracted by my ass, and miss that I have great arms and a manly jaw line too.”
+“Plus, your ass is smart enough to get a GED. Your ass should be proud, because now it can go to technical school.”
+“My ass looks too good to bother with school. It's going to find a sugar mamma to take care of it.”
+“Well he can keep looking, because this momma is down to her last spoonful.”
+</blockquote>
+There are thankfully only two other instances of this happening in the book.
+Let's move on to those observations. One of the best parts of the entire book is Kevin's list of 10 places where he found vampires. When I was initially skimming thru the book, it was here that I got the impression the book would be good.\\
+It manages (at least for a while) to get away from the SEX VAMPIRE SEX VAMPIRE SEX to more subtle and unique portrayals of the Daeva. The main downside here being that Kevin (and I'm certain the writers) still interpret all of this thru the lens of //**sex**//. Guys...the Daeva's theme is ‘passion’, not ‘lust’.\\
+Anyway, the 10 vampires are:
+  - Vampire at a gay bar.
+  - Gym girl vampire at a fitness center.
+  - A teenage-looking vampire at a high school dance.
+  - Nerd girl at a game lounge.
+  - Old looking vampire at a senior center spaghetti-off.
+  - Waitress vampire at an American Diner.
+  - Organizer vampire at NARCANON.
+  - Art class teacher vampire teaching a night class.
+  - Creepy predator vampire at the home improvement store.
+  - A new guy at a megachurch.
+Some of those are fairly obvious and interpreted 100% thru the sex thing. 1, 2 and 3 are all hanging out in those locations because they wanna have sex. That is Kevin's interpretation. Mine is just that these are different hunting grounds and we can’t be sure if the vampires have sex. I'll go thru the interesting ones.\\
+The nerd girl in the game lounge has basically positioned herself as the Queen Bee. All the guys in that center look to her as a sort-of goddess. Kevin doesn't even observe her doing anything explicitly sexual, so she might just enjoy the attention.\\
+The old vampire at the senior center is one of the more uncomfortable ones in how it's described, because Kevin basically goes “old people have sex too” and then speculates about how this old vampire must spend a lot of time just having sex with old ladies. And it's especially uncomfortable because this old vampire is literally just judging spaghetti. No, I'm not joking. He's observing this vampire at a spaghetti-off and going <q>“What a sick perv, I bet he has sex with all the grannies!”</q> which is just pure unhinged behavior. I can also tell that the authors don't think this is weird in the slightest.\\
+The waitress at the American Diner confused Kevin at first, because she didn't give any customers her number. How can she have casual sex without giving people her number! After hours, he finds out that she's making out with the cook, who looks pale. So a monogamous vampire, basically. Except that she probably doesn't like the cook that much if he's pale. Kevin also implies sex must happen because of course.\\
+NARCANON is the one that is strangest and was what made me assume the book would mostly be stuff like it. The vampire is the organizer/psychologist in the group and she appears to have used Majesty for the express purpose of helping the guys in the group get over their addictions. What ruins it is that Kevin (and the writer) seems to implicitly assume she bangs these guys after the meetings, but outside of hugs and touching-but-not-actually and staring into eyes...she doesn't do anything. I have no doubt she //sucks// but doubt that she //fucks//.\\
+The art class teacher is somehow more uncomfortable to read than the senior center because, again, the vampire doesn't actually seem to do anything besides preside over an art class. One where they're painting a nude fat guy with a full erection (that is seriously what it says). The authors are so unhinged at times that it hurts.\\
+The home improvement store is the one where Kevin almost died, so he called the police on the vamp. Or, rather, Kevin is paranoid and called the police on him because he assumed the vampire would kill him.\\
+The megachurch is the most bizarre of them all, because there's a vampire among the new people in the church (together with Kevin). He had assumed the vampire was the pastor, until he had to shake hands with the vampire. Kevin ran away like a coward because that's what he is. It's perplexing because it's not clear what is even going on here. The vampire only appeared to want to shake Kevin's hand. We don't get a description of his expression, just that he's apparently using Majesty.
+A lot of these also involve Kevin describing a ‘pull’ towards the vampires, which is definitely Majesty at work. Though with how unhinged Kevin is – and this is definitely unintentional on the part of the writers – I actually think Kevin is lying and he's just a vampire sex junkie who needs his next fix.
+After this, Kevin spends some time explaining vampire traits. There are the standard ones like <q>“doesn't breath unconsciously”</q> but one that caught my attention was the <q>“one long night”</q>.\\
+Basically, according to Kevin, vampires enter an unconscious sleep during the day which means they never see the day at all. The lack of a natural ‘pause’ in this time period results in their internal clocks breaking and means that they perceive time differently. Because they never see the day, they experience <q>“one long night”</q>. Consequently, vampires have trouble telling what day it is or how much time has passed between events. //Relatable//. Mad even tells Kevin that she breaks up the day by when she last had a shower. So her ‘day’ starts and ends with a shower.\\
+I thought this was really interesting worldbuilding and actually gives us an insight into what it's like to be a vampire.\\
+Except that, no, that makes zero sense.\\
+Vampires enter an involuntary sleep during the day. So they //do// have a natural means of separating events. Just like humans. Now, it could be argued that vampires don't dream which is the main contributing factor. However, whether vampires dream or not is irrelevant. This is because this ‘sleep’ is really them just dropping dead and then waking up in the morning. The process of waking up requires them to literally get their heart beating again. The way the lore is phrased implies that this process isn't super trivial either (downright uncomfortable).\\
+There's also the fact that Kevin directly witnesses this involuntary sleep and describes it. It starts with a period where the vampires are half-asleep (un-moving, eyes closed, maybe gently muttering, even shuddering) where the vampire can hear people speak to her. Then they enter the ‘deep sleep’. Besides this being super adorable, it also proves that the process isn't instant. You don't suddenly drop dead and then find yourself on the floor: you literally fall asleep over the process of a few seconds and then uncomfortably wake up.\\
+So vampires //do// have a natural pause in their schedule which helps them break up the day.
+In case you're wondering, the book is filled with these kinds of really weird inconsistencies and worldbuilding hiccups. You can see exactly what the writers intended to do...but also see how they contradict themselves. And it isn't always inconsistent with the rest of //Requiem//’s lore (as I understand it), but with //their own writing//.
+Now I'll move onto that vampire seductress: Madael North (or Mad). I think the writers intended for her to be this kind of super seductress...but I can’t actually be sure. This is because she's one of the weirder characters in the book.\\
+When Kevin and her first meet (and get past that godsawful flirting), she seems to constantly give Kevin an out. If you've read this book and don't agree with me, I challenge you to read thru their initial meeting to count all the times Kevin had the perfect opportunity to just back off.\\
+In fact, Kevin does a few stupid things of his own accord: he buys her beer for no reason; he calls his girlfriend and lies about why he can’t get home in time; he turns his phone notifications off.\\
+Meanwhile, let's look at Mad: she points out (several times) that Kevin has lied to his girlfriend; she gives him a very unusual excuse for why she needs //him// to drive her home;((:fn:>The context here is that Mad is at a supermarket. She tells Kevin that her car is broken down and points at it. It's parked in a spot in the parking area of the supermarket. A normal person would ask //how// it broke down.))((:fn:>It gets more suspicious later because Mad lives //very// far from that supermarket. She had to navigate for Kevin and it didn't seem trivial.)) she even tells him that there was an ex-boyfriend at her place.\\
+I dunno if I'm just a weird guy, but the signals she gives off don't mesh well with <q>“I want to fuck you”</q>. I think even if she //were// using Majesty (consciously or not), Kevin still wouldn't have been compelled to do the things he does for no particular reason. Kevin is just an asshole, really.\\
+ In fact, the way it's written suggests that she didn't even intend to seduce him. I now 100% believe that her car was //actually// broken down and she really did need a ride home. The first time, I think, that she was like <q>“Okay, I want him”</q> was when she challenged him to guess her secret and, if he guesses right, she'll give him a kiss. He guesses that she's a vampire, which surprises her and makes her very happy. So this is more of an accidental reverse-seduction. She likes Kevin because she thinks that he knows she's a vampire, which makes her feel like they have a ‘bond’.\\
+Moving on from this initial meeting to a more positive observation about the way the story is written: it's pretty obvious to me that Mad doesn't actually love Kevin. Though Kevin seriously believes that she //does//. I'm not sure whether this is intentional on the part of the writers (I'm leaning towards “probably not”) but, whether it is or isn't, it's pretty nice.\\
+Basically, this is evident just from how they interact. After they have sex, Mad often just kicks Kevin out. Sometimes with a kiss (I assume), but oftentimes just <q>“get dressed, I'll call a cab, get out”</q>. Also, they //only// have sex. There are only two moments where they don't (as described by Kevin): one where they're watching TV //in-between sex// and once where they go dancing. It's also notable that they only go dancing because //Mad wants to//. Kevin never seems to suggest anything except sex. Also, that dance doesn't go particularly well because they murder Kevin's ‘friend’ Mitchell.((:fn:>I'm mentioning him here because he's another example of two things I noticed about this book: the first is the weird focus on sex. Mitchell has a big penis. This is actually written into it. The second is that this book doesn't understand what friends are, because Mitchell and Kevin are supposedly friends...but Kevin hates him. This is an overall trend in the book, where you either hate another person or you're having sex with them. There's no in-between. And even if you hate them, you have sex with them anyway.))\\
+That dance night was also when Kevin actually realized she was a vampire. Until that point he mostly thought she was a bit weird and that it was her kink to drink his blood. I mean, they only murder Mitchell because Kevin thought he was special for her to drink his blood.\\
+Going along with my theory that Mad only likes Kevin because he's a convenient source of blood and she thinks he knew she was a vampire from the start...that night (and consequent 1 month break from the relationship) probably confirmed to her that she misunderstood how much he knew. So she dumps him by disappearing from his life. Also to evade the law because she //did// kill a guy.\\
+So, again, I think it's obvious that Mad likes and cares for Kevin...but she doesn't mentally categorize him as a boyfriend.
+Now we move on to some //math//. Y'see, I suspect that Kevin should be dead from blood-loss considering the frequency with which she feeds. And it's here that it's pretty clear the authors weren't thinking at all – which is further evidence to suggest that a lot of the other stuff in this book (fluff-wise) is broken or bizarre.\\
+According to this [[https://bluesrat.com/wod/vtrcheat.html|cheatsheet]] I found for the first edition of //Vampire: The Requiem//((:fn:>I checked the second edition rules as well, though I couldn't find the information I was looking for from a skim.)) the average human can provide 7 points of blood for the same amount of health. For each point taken, the human takes 1 lethal damage. According to [[1d6>World of Darkness|1d6chan]], lethal damage takes a while to heal and can result in death if you max it out. So, basically, after approximately 7 sucks, Kevin would be dead.\\
+Kevin claims that he had sex with Mad 3 times a week and, every time, she warmed herself up sometime during the process. Because warming up (whether the Blush of Life or Night Life) requires 1 point of Vitae, it would be counter-intuitive to spend blood to have sex without profiting somehow. And it is 100% certain that Mad used those sex sessions to get more than she put in. So, if we're generous, Mad would drink 2 points of blood very every session. That means that, within a week, Kevin is dead.
+The sex stuff here is also weird (if that wasn't already evident). It's so weird that it suggests one of two things: that vampires aren't fully ‘dead’ or that Kevin is a necrophiliac. I don't doubt the latter, but there's more evidence (in the book as a whole) to suggest the former. Notably that Kevin manages to penetrate Mad before she uses the Blush of Life. I'm no expert on having sex with corpses, so I relied on 1d6chan's [[1d6>Vampire:_The_Masquerade#You're_a_vampire_now,_so_what's_next?|Masquerade article]] which gives me the impression that doing so would be difficult, to put it lightly.\\
+Why she's even having sex with him is also a bit of a mystery because, to be honest, he'd probably orgasm just from being bit by her (and she doesn't need to warm herself up). That's preferable for her because she doesn't have to spend blood to do it.
+This is an overall theme with the book: why do the Daeva even care about sex? That question sounds silly until you think about everything surrounding sex and vampires.\\
+Vampires need to spend blood to warm up, which is counter-intuitive if your goal is to //get// blood. You'd have to take more than just a little in that case which is very risky because if you kill someone you lose humanity and gain a lot of unwanted attention. This is the pre-touchstone system, let's not forget.\\
+Doing it just for kicks also doesn't make a lot of rational sense because, again, you're spending blood for it and it doesn't feel as pleasurable for you as the Kiss does. So even emotionally you can argue it doesn't make sense.
+If creatures are acting irrationally based on available information, then it doesn't matter what the intended theme or whatever is, you have to produce some rational explanation for their actions.
+Basically, the book //assumes// that Daeva would //want// sex to the point that they engage in casual sex regularly and the book //further assumes// that Daeva do this for the express purpose of remaining alive and preventing boredom. But then the worldbuilding actively undermines both of those goals from multiple angles. Which I'll get into later.
+Oh, right, I almost forgot to mention it. Kevin finds a comic tract at a bathroom one night and later buys two more. We, the readers, get to read those comics and, honestly, they are the highlight of the book. I would argue that the book is worth buying for these alone.\\
+They are written by vampires for vampires and they are legitimately funny. At least the first one is. And while Kevin has three we only see two...I was honestly enraged to find out there were only two in the book. I wouldn't mind seeing more of them but that's probably never happening.\\
+Also, there is still a sex assumption inside of them so bleh.
+I also forgot to mention that the Collector (and <wrap spoiler>probably Ayesha</wrap>) is occasionally commenting on Kevin. He shows his empathy by feeling a little bad for him (if I remember correctly?) and by calling him a lucky boy. The green sticky notes are also disappointed in Madael.
+==== Mixtape ====
+The next part is a ‘mixtape’. More accurately, it's a transcript of some monologues recorded onto a tape by a sire for his new childe. He recorded them because he ditched her.\\
+Most of it is just a lore summary basically: he explains what she needs to know to survive without him.\\
+I think most of this is fine bar the emphasis on sex (yes, I'm a broken record and we're still at the beginning) and some really bizarre stuff.\\
+One of my personal favorites is that he advises dressing according to the modern trends but to have at least one piece of clothing that confuses people. That is actually good practical advice.
+Basically, the sire explains that the best strategy for long-term slurping is to find yourself a guy who is willing to cheat on his girlfriend/wife. The reasoning here betrays how stupid the writers are.\\
+The sire explains that this is the best strategy because that new boyfriend of yours will be comparing his actual girlfriend/wife to you and, if you play your cards right, will make you look like the greener grass all the time. That makes him loyal to you like a puppy dog.
+Putting aside my own moral views on cheating – it's just a little silly to bring in morals for a horror game about monsters((:fn:>I'll clarify here that I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with bringing morals into a horror game, just that it depends on what, where and how. It's fine to object to something from a moral perspective but you can’t argue that something is illogical //because// it's immoral, as that's an appeal to morality. Which is the point I'm making here.)) – this doesn't make any sense whatsoever if you think about it.\\
+It's presented as an entirely rational strategy, so let's dismantle it rationally. A vampire would never come to this kind of conclusion. Creating an adulterous relationship brings with it many risks that don't apply to regular monogamous ones: that //girlfriend// or //wife// is //still in the background// and she //will// find out eventually, especially when she sees her partner come home looking pale and sick. That's not even considering how bad a liar he could be. And when she finds out, how she responds can vary, but trying to find you or cut you out is not outside the realm of possibility. That's not even considering the social fallout that could result from it. Basically, the problem is that you'd be attracting attention, which is undesirable for a vampire trying to hide.\\
+On the other hand, you could just seduce some single guy and then suck him off in peace for eternity. There is no interloper present, so it is the most rational choice. See also my [[lb:wnotes:succubus#adultery|Succubus Writing Notes]] for a little more on that.
+==== The Cacophany ====
+The next part introduces the Cacophany. This is a loose organization of vampires who distribute information, basically, irrespective of the Masquerade.
+The story itself is told thru two transcripts.
+It starts with a vampire getting caught in a sting operation and then his speech prior to his execution. The vampire comes off as a crazy Boomer explaining the power of the television and printing press whilst justifying why he thinks breaching the Masquerade is a-okay. I have zero sympathy for him and I'm not sure if that's what the writers intended.
+The Collector showcases his empathy – and why he's the best character in the book – by explaining that he feels uncomfortable reading the transcript, because his own daughter is a part of the Cacophany.((:fn:>From how it was written, I got the impression that the Cacophany started in the 60s but I also happened to be skimming thru the Dark Eras book (to confirm something I read on the wiki) where it stated that the Cacophany started during the Reign of Terror in France. That's relevant because I don't think the Cacophany as a concept can survive existing in a world where the Masquerade is enforced absolutely.)) So he's uncomfortable imagining her getting caught and executed.
+I don't think this is particularly noteworthy outside of issues I have with the worldbuilding.\\
+I don't think the Cacophany as a concept – with its punk journalists who don't care about The Man™ – could actually survive in the World of Darkness. I say this because the Masquerade is absolute and would be enforced absolutely. Punk journalists would be killed or beaten into submission.\\
+The other issue is that this chapter reveals there was a sudden boom in the vampire population during the Baby Boom. During which there were a lot of illegal Embraces and thus a lot of vampires who had no idea what they were and what they needed to survive. Thus the Cacophany formed as a tool to help them survive. I don't think such a Vampire Boom would occur due to the above fact that the Masquerade is absolute and enforced absolutely. This isn't the first such sudden population boom in history so it's not like the vampires would be unprepared for dealing with those.
+==== American Dreamgirl ====
+American Dreamgirl is one of the ones I actually like a lot and somewhat unambiguously. It actually excludes implications of sex and focuses purely on a simple concept. I think it's built around one of the Devotions in the book – Picture Perfect.
+The premise is that this vampire girl – the American Dreamgirl – realized after the Second World War that she could become a model. As a model, she then became the basis of //every// pinup picture from the 50s until the 60s. She managed to avoid scrutiny by pretending to be multiple different people (and likely using her ability to do so) and then shaped public perception in her favor. I find it a little implausible, but the rest of it is fine.\\
+The protagonist is a guy writing a letter to his sire. His sire claims to have sent him to her because she's his long-lost sister and...presumably for an interview? That's the cover at least.\\
+After talking to the protagonist, she explains to him why she told him her backstory: <q>“Ain’t it obvious, mister? I’ve been slinking around since the turn of the last century. Girl gets hungry doing that, and the blood of the living is just a little on the thin side.”</q>\\
+At that our protagonist runs away (after considering being eaten) and finishes his letter. This was when he realized his sire sent him to the American Dreamgirl as a snack.\\
+However, dumbass that this protagonist is, he decides to go back to her...where he //knows// he'll be eaten. And while he imagines his sire is probably laughing at him, the protagonist decides to tell him a secret: <q>“She knows who you are.”</q>\\
+Very nice.
+==== New Orleans ====
+There's a brief interlude about New Orleans. Prior to the hurricane in 2005, New Orleans was a very important hotspot of Kindred activity. Afterwards, it was decimated.
+I don't think there's much of note here and I say so because I keep forgetting it's in the book and only remember it by scrolling past it.
+==== Ayesha ====
+Next is the next major part of the book: Ayesha's diary. And we see another issue: the diary is written like a novel, not a diary. It's not very diegetic. This applies generally to most of the notes we see in the book, I just noticed it most strongly here.
+Ayesha is a punk journalist and probably one of the bigger asshole characters in the book. I say this unironically after seeing Kevin. And I'm not just saying that because it's strongly implied she's a lesbian. All you really need to know is that she acts as a [[lb:wod:Brujah]] despite being closer-related to the [[lb:wod:Toreador]].\\
+Ayesha is a journalist (the real reason I'm saying she's a bitch) who was tasked by her ‘father’ – the Collector – to perform a job.\\
+The details of the job aren't that important, but what is important to note is that she kills a lot of people. We never see her killing directly (she never describes it directly in her diary) but during the course of the story she kills at least three and implies she killed several others in the past. This is her playing with her Humanity, meaning she probably goes into torpor for a while.\\
+The reasons why she kills someone are pretty benign too. One of them she kills because he calls her a hooker. I guess this could imply her Vice is Wrath?\\
+Now, her killing people isn't much of an issue (putting aside //why// she does it) and the bigger issue is that she seems uninterested in the Masquerade, which raises questions about how she's even still alive.
+Ayesha is a member of the Cacophany – which I already talked about briefly – which is why she's a journalist roaming around the place. She's been writing for them since the 70s at least, which is probably around the time she got Embraced. And it's also pretty clear that more conservative vampires have been aware of her and disapproved for a while.
+How is she still alive?
+That is the //other// big problem with White Wolf's writings: you can’t have punk/whore vampires as the significant majority live alongside the Masquerade and societies.\\
+This is mainly because vampires live a long time.\\
+Using Ayesha as an example, she was probably Embraced in the late 60s or early 70s. The book's events take place around 2007 or 2008, which means she's been a vampire for approximately 30-40 years. The fact she's in her 20s also suggests she's lived 2x longer as a vampire.\\
+It's unusual that, in all that time, she's apparently still mostly the same. And we know she's been mostly the same because we get an example of one of her articles from the 70s, which is written in essentially the same style as her modern articles (which we //also// see).\\
+She's remained a punk for her entire life. Actually, she probably adopted the punk aesthetic in the 80s.\\
+I'm not saying she'd become a straight conservative good girl in all that time, just that it's incredibly unlikely that she's maintain her <q>“Fight the power!”</q> and rebellious attitude in all that time.\\
+Even putting aside natural tendencies to mellow out over time, the rest of vampire society would actively suppress her. If you're interested, read my [[lb:wnotes:vampires]] article. To sum it up though, since vampires would be primarily conservative and cautious, they would fight back very strongly against people like Ayesha. If she isn't executed on sight, she'd be locked up somewhere and then beaten and educated until she finally submits. Her only briefly meeting with a (presumed) member of the Invictus who almost kills her isn't enough, basically.
+That's a nice natural pivot over to Colonel Alvarez. Alvarez is presumably a Daeva who is a major force in the Invictus. I say ‘presumably’ because it's never explicitly stated. Alvarez is responsible for establishing a system wherein Daeva can enter nightclubs freely (that Alvarez operates) to feed off of the mortals who have to pay to enter. It's nice and safe and works out for everybody. Alvarez’s appearance is kind stupid and clashes completely with how conservative and authoritarian her personality is, but that's a side-note.\\
+Ayesha and Alvarez meet because Ayesha wants to interview/talk with Alvarez about this system. When they meet for the first time, they hug each-other. Ayesha states explicitly that she chose not to warm herself up for this, which implies that vampires normally warm themselves up to hug each-other. //That// is such interesting worldbuilding that I'm annoyed it's mentioned so casually.
+After the club, Ayesha does something stupid and gets captured by Alvarez who intends to torture and then presumably execute Ayesha. Alvarez is torturing Ayesha by stabbing her with a knife. After her favorite rib (heh) gets shattered by it, Ayesha activates the Blush of Life...which causes blood to go thru her veins again, which causes her to bleed. She then uses her own blood as lubrication to slip out of the Colonel's grip and consequently kills her.\\
+That is a very creative use of the Blush of Life. It's just a shame that it's hidden in //this// book.
+After finishing the job, Ayesha just kinda wanders off and we have no clue what happens to her. This is relevant information for later.
+I didn't mention it because it's not plot relevant, but there is still sex stuff in here. It starts off with Ayesha thinking that her roommate/friend/lover Cat is a whore who sleeps with men while Ayesha is sleeping during the day. She suspects this because Cat's clothes stink of //something// which annoys her because Ayesha and Cat are/were the same size so they shared clothes.\\
+After that, Ayesha gets annoyed at being called a hooker (if that's the problem, then don't dress or act or fuck like one).\\
+Then Ayesha tries seduction and fails, so she kills a vampire. Then she bribes a ghoul with her own blood.\\
+It's sometime during this that, for some godsforsaken reason, Ayesha writes some of her previous flirt/sex exploits to get stuff she wants.
+<blockquote>
+I’m good with people, really I am. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve flirted my way through a door, either. But eight years back the boys and I packed Vault, and I personally rocked it. Five years before that it was Elektrik. And when I was a very little girl who still happened to breathe, I got somebody’s head between my thighs for the first time ever at The Station.
+</blockquote>
+I might be misinterpreting it, but I feel this is implying she was a teenager when she had someone perform cunnilingus on her.\\
+A hint for future writers: women typically don't write stuff like this into their diaries. Even if they're reminiscing, it is extremely unnatural for them to write it like //this//.
+The other thing I noticed after re-reading that bit is that...well, this quote from her is hilariously ironic, considering //every attempt at seduction she makes fails//. I'm not exaggerating. For someone who brags about being flirtatious and for //being a Daeva//, she is awful at seduction. Every single time she's had to result to some kind of threat instead.\\
+Again, very Brujah, but not very Daeva. And I think this is 100% unintentional on the part of the writers.
+Actually, another sudden realization. This might actually undermine my greater point, but I guess I should explain it. Ayesha //could// be a non-sex example of the Daeva theme of ‘passion’ manifesting, just that it's a //really tenuous connection// and, if it //is// there, it's unintentional. Or the writers //did// intend it, but didn't do a good job of showing it.\\
+Ayesha is potentially passionate about being rebellious and a punk journalist. That could be the passion that she embodies.\\
+What undermines that is the fact she is still stricken with the weird sex stuff and, again, it's not really focused on that much outside of her Brujah-like personality.
+==== Letter ====
+There's another brief interlude written by a ‘relative’ of the Collector. To sum it up, the letter basically says <q>“I'm not crazy, I'm just gonna have a drink and also I miss you mom.”</q>\\
+With how passionate it is, it's way more Daeva-like...just that it's overly poetic and, also, sex stuff. Nothing too notable.
+==== Magazine ====
+Following the letter we have a magazine article which is probably written by a colleague/relative of Ayesha. I'm not too sure because details are sparse.
+The article starts with the guy talking about his ‘friend’ – Aubrey – who he characterizes as a conspiracy nut who thinks that every new piece of tech will end the Masquerade. The article itself is mostly about the history of the Masquerade, which is pretty interesting. It suggests that the modern concept only emerged in the 20th Century and, prior to that, it was not really codified and mostly common-sense. I don't believe him, but I do like how they explained the Masquerade in Roman times: tied to ‘shame’.
+I had ‘friend’ in quotations because that's the other major thing I noticed about this book. I first noticed it with vampires, but now think it applies to most of the characters. None of the characters like each-other. In fact, most of them hate each-other. And if they don't hate each-other, they're having sex. Even when they hate each-other they want to have sex with each-other.\\
+I'm about 93% sure that this is the authors projecting, because it's a typical viewpoint of those following [[lb:SocJus]]: you're either someone they hate or someone they want to have sex with (or who they //do// have sex with). Platonic friendships don't exist as a concept.((:fn:>The Collector is the major exception and he seems to genuinely care about people like Ayesha. But with how much weird sex stuff is (implied and not), there is the slight implication that even this relationship has a sexual undercurrent. Though this one makes a //little// more sense considering Sire/Childe are almost certainly going to form around romantic relationships.))
+It's most evident here because the writer of the article makes it very clear that he thinks Aubrey is stupid and beneath him, but also turns him on. He's turned on by the ‘teacher-like’ voice she uses.((:ref:kisssucc))((:fn:><q>She’s talking to me like I’m one of the slow kids. I hate to admit that I find it reassuring, and slightly arousing.</q>)) And he thinks she's hot too. But he otherwise clearly dislikes her. It's really odd to read, especially since it doesn't seem to be mutual.\\
+She even clarifies for him that whenever she was talking about all those “end of the world” scenarios, she was really warning //him in particular//. Then she sends him a few pictures which expose him and the implication is that he dies after the article is published. It's vaguely similar to American Dreamgirl, but not executed as well.
+This one also thankfully doesn't have any weird sex stuff in it as far as I remember, besides the weird stuff above.
+Most of the vampires disliking each-other doesn't make sense from a worldbuilding standpoint for the simple fact that centuries-spanning societies cannot last if most of the people living in those societies actively dislike each-other. This is a definite //White Wolf moment//.\\
+It's especially odd when the book establishes that Daeva refer to each-other with more familiar familial terminology: the Collector calls Ayesha his ‘daughter’ and she calls him ‘dad’. The Daeva refer to each-other as cousins as well.\\
+I'm not arguing that it's impossible for vampires to hate each-other, just that it wouldn't be as common/widespread as it appears to be.
+==== Carmilla ====
+The next part is related to Carmilla. Yeah, //that// Carmilla of famous vampire literature.
+This one is interesting in that it's presented as an essay about Carmilla written by a female vampire. The Collector is then actively commenting on it. I think this is the single part of the whole book where the Collector is most vocal outside of what he writes directly.\\
+There's also some slight lore that intrigues rather than confuses.
+However, this is also where the weird sex stuff comes back, just not in the form of sex stuff because the essay is...well, it's like <q>“HEY, CARMILLA'S DEFINITELY A LESBIAN AND IT'S SO AWFUL LE FANU DIDN'T LIKE LESBIANS SO HE REMOVED THE MOST OVERT REFERENCES”</q>. It's very obvious this was written by a ‘woke’ man. Even the Collector thinks that the essay is a bit weird, though he doesn't comment on the lesbian stuff directly.
+The essay is an analysis of the historical character thru the literary character and additional evidence found relevant to it. It's also blatantly biased because the vampire lady writing it clearly likes the idea of Carmilla as a lesbian vampire ruler.
+The actual interesting lore is the bombshell that Carmilla was supposedly involved in an effort to revive the Camarilla: the **New Camarilla**. The Collector has never heard of this and is confused. The author even suggests that the name ‘Carmilla’ is just a corruption of ‘Camarilla’ and the actual historical Carmilla's name is thus unknown. But what this really means is a little unclear, because the essay doesn't focus on it.
+Both the essayist and the Collector agree that Carmilla probably doesn't actually exist, but is more of a myth/folklore/idea. I'd consider this one of the first transparent attempts at pretending the lore isn't set in stone, because Carmilla probably does exist and was also named Carmilla.
+==== The World Before Us ====
+The next part was written by the Collector and the earliest history of the Daeva clan.
+The Collector is called racist by a green sticky note (in a seemingly endearing tone). This is because the Collector suggests that the earliest human bodies that we found in Africa and China couldn't have matched the mental faculties of actual humans.\\
+I initially agreed that this is a clear-cut sign of racism, but I'm not so sure anymore. Mainly because this implies it refers to //Homo Erectus// and not //Homo Sapiens//. The key fact is ‘China’, which is a bit weird to mention in the context of the oldest human remains. So calling him racist might actually be unwarranted because Homo Erectus objectively //didn't// have the same mental faculties as Homo Sapiens.
+The Collector makes the claim that Kindred started in the City of Ur and the sticky notes disagree with him, which is kinda amusing.
+The story starts off with an origin myth. All Daeva supposedly descend from [[lb:Lilith]] who worked for [[lb:Ishtar|Inanna]] who killed her and brought her back to life. Lilith apparently did a thing with Inanna's husband (Tammuz). Lilith was left behind when Inanna left.\\
+Also, Inanna was God's daughter. And God is named ‘Sin’ by the Collector. Sure, why not.
+I'm leaving out the sex stuff because by now it's routine and mostly ‘meh’. Just keep in mind that me not mentioning it this ‘chapter’ doesn't mean it's not there.
+==== Emails ====
+The next bit involves emails between the Collector and a scholar – identified as Nic. Nic is working for the Collector on gathering old documents to help substantiate the above history of the Daeva, which the Collector mostly pieced together thru oral history.
+Most of this is actually fascinating to read, but it starts with the sex thing and, when I first read it, I found it uniquely uncomfortable and weird.\\
+Basically, the scholar explains that he's living with three other vampire ladies. Two (Mat/Lishan) of them have admitted to being lovers and he (Nic) assumes that the last one (Katy) joins in with them. What do they do together? Drink each-other's blood((:fn:>The Collector says that they'll learn soon enough that it's a bad idea because being close isn't necessarily great, which he attests to because of his relationship with Ayesha. I'm just going to let that drift over me because I don't want to think about the implications.)) and, according to Nic's own speculations...<q>‘circle-lick’</q>((:fn:>I think <q>‘circle-lick’</q> will haunt me forever now.)) each-other.\\
+Nic also clarifies to the Collector that he has sex with Katy because he actually likes her. But that sex is as far as it goes. Because that's a normal thing to say.
+Yeah, I think I finally understand how White Wolf failed to go big even after going Chronicles of Darkness.
+Seriously guys. Why are the vampires having sex? Nothing beats the Kiss((:fn:>I wrote this and realized I wasn't sure anymore. Repeat after me: <q>“I'll have to check that later.”</q> Probably the Requiem core rulebook.)) and having sex comes with difficulties.\\
+This time I've got a little more to comment on, because it's a male vampire admitting he's doing the sex instead of just humans sexing female vampires.\\
+It would probably be much harder (or impossible) for a male vampire to have sex because, in order to //get// erect, he would have to activate the Blush of Life because blood flow.((:fn:>I remembered that the Collector brags about being able to get erect just like a living man at the very beginning of the book. Which implies that he normally can’t.)) Now, that's step 1, but step 2 comes with the sex itself. I don't think that male vampires can ejaculate because they're sterile. Their balls would be empty. Is that such a big deal? Probably not, but I'm not about to look up what happens if you try to ejaculate while being empty.\\
+Female vampires engaging in a <q>‘circle-lick’</q> makes a bit more logistical sense, but the issue is that they're //already supposedly drinking each-others’ blood, which would feel much more pleasant//. And, in order to have sex at all, they'd still need to use the Blush of Life.\\
+If //you// think this is awkward to read, just remember that //I'm// the one reading the original. Though I'll admit that I'm the only one here thinking about logistics.\\
+That also indicates to me that it's the writers’ poorly-disguised sexual-fantasy. Three sexy vampires in a circle. And the only guy is sexing one of them.
+After that, the focus actually shifts back to focusing on the history of the Daeva clan. It's legitimately interesting to read too.\\
+Nic's explaining what sources he found, how trustworthy they are, what's in them (vaguely) and some extra details surrounding them. The ones he found were ballads collecting stories written in English and Welsh. He's not sure who wrote them, but assumes they're genuine.\\
+He concludes that these ‘Blood Ballads’ were an attempted reconstruction of the old myths, gathered based on the testimony of several elders.\\
+He adds in a later email that the Lancae et Sanctum had elders who memorized the Testament of Longinus (basically vampire Bible) which is also super interesting. These elders would recount the Testament to others and then, eventually, flayed themselves to use their own skin to write it down. Most copies of the Testament of Longinus are based on these original Bibles (though Nic says that he's never seen one).
+Nic also adds something to corroborate the Collector's story, by linking ‘Sin’ to Mount Sinai from Exodus. Interesting theory, I guess.
+Basically, following that initially uncomfortable bit about lesbian vampires, the rest of the emails are actually concerned completely with speculating about the history of the Daeva.
+The emails end with Nic being unethical by sharing scans of the ‘Gospel of James’. The gist of it is that Mary had several dead children before Jesus (the first named James) who ended up growing up despite being dead. They then saw Jesus die and were to speak to Longinus at some point.\\
+Nic suggests this as an alternative origin point for the Daeva.
+That's the end of this bit. The next is a film script.
+==== Black Blood ====
+This part annoys me because it's framed as a film script, but not actually written like one. The way they weasel around this is by explaining the film script was adapted from a book. The book and script were both written by the same author – D.A. Evans. However, the graphics all make it look like a script, while the writing matches that of a novel. Something I found funny is that the film is apparently set to be directed by [[lb:Michael Bay]], which would have been awesome to see actually.\\
+Anyway, the actual story here is vaguely interesting, just that there are a lot of gaps and it's a bit eye-roll-enducing.
+Various characters comment on it and trash the script, which would be amusing if those same criticisms didn't apply to //Kiss of the Succubus//.\\
+It's here that I hit the first bit of meta-irony that made me snicker and completely took me out of the book.\\
+Basically, there's a complaint about ‘Adrian’ – fictional vampire lady in the film script – and how she goes from a <q>‘ninja-stripper’</q> to <q>‘romance-starved girl’</q> sometimes in the same scene. Thus the vampire making the note concludes that the author must have been a man..\\
+The irony here is, of course, that both of the authors of this book – //Kiss of the Succubus// – are male. I mentioned that in the [[#Summary]] so I won't go over it again.\\
+Book, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t give us Madael, Ayesha and <q>‘circle lick’</q> and then go “lol, men can’t women”.
+I actually read the quote that note is commenting on, wanna know what it is?
+<div card vstack>
+<blockquote>During the day, the beaches between the Doah Club and the Oasis Hotel were a testament to modern Islam’s ability to adapt and change. During the Call to Prayer, the faithful knelt before God in their swim suits and surfing shorts, bronzed and dark. When Adrian Childe thought of the beautiful things that grew in this desert, she lingered
+there, recalling when she’d plucked such flowers, but her mind turned as it always did down the dark paths suggested by the sea-herald specter – she thought of the horrors that also sprouted freely here.</blockquote>
+<blockquote>‘Adrian’? Is the author being sly with us? “D.A.Evans” has to be male. The way Adrian is written… she’s a ninja stripper one moment, a mewing romance-starved girl the next.</blockquote>
+</div>
+Now to the story part of this chapter.
+The book – Black Blood – is clearly written by an actual Daeva who is skirting around the Masquerade so much that none of the characters understand how the book got published in the first place...let alone how it got to a film adaptation stage.\\
+They also suspect it's tied to Felix – a vampire that I haven't mentioned yet, but he's Ayesha's ‘brother’. I thought that Felix might have written it, but I changed my mind once I got to the end. Whoever wrote the book is familiar with Felix (and has a hard-on for him), however.
+I think that the character of Adrian is based off of Ayesha, but I can’t be sure. She matches her general physical look and personality, plus the author describes Adrian and book!Felix as ‘relatives’. Except that Adrian is a lot nicer. The characters suspect that Adrian is a self-insert gender-bent version of the (obviously male) author.
+Now to sum up the story a bit. Adrian is sent to Qatar to meet with a guy and figure something out, though it's not clear exactly why. She fights with some ex-crusader vampires and meets with Felix. Then there are a few battles where she's betrayed by the local Caliph – which the book states is just the Middle-Eastern rendering of the term ‘Prince’.\\
+There's a fight where Adrian strips naked to avoid showing up on IR. A note points out that this is silly because vampire clothing is the same temperature as the vampires.\\
+...\\
+So...the book //does// care about vampire necrology?\\
+Putting that aside, I think the book is wrong. I think the clothing //would// show up on IR because it would be absorbing heat from the surrounding environment, unlike Adrian's body. Though I can’t be sure, so take that with a grain of salt.
+I'll note that while I //am// a bit into the story being told here.
+Anyway, nothing particularly noteworthy happens until Adrian has to hide from the Sun.  At this point in time she's feeling a bit bad because some guy (Gangrel?) ripped open her stomach and twisted her intestine. Happens to the best of us. She's with a guy (not important) and asks him to wrap her in curtains in the bathtub to protect her from the Sun.\\
+This is where the interesting thing happens: she asks him to talk to her as she's falling asleep.\\
+Mad (all the way back in [[#Kevin]]) asked Kevin to do the same for her. I didn't mention it then because I didn't think it was particularly noteworthy.((:fn:>And for my re-writes decided to just leave it for now.)) However,  it happening twice suggests that this could be...a thing?\\
+Maybe female Daeva/vampires ask their favorite blood bags/boy-toys/ghouls/boyfriends to talk to them as the Sun comes up? That would be some interesting worldbuilding but, just like with the hugging, this is mentioned so casually that there isn't much else to it.
+Then we get to the mythology...and the //sex stuff// again. No! Yes!\\
+Basically, the author wrote about the legend of Inanna/Lilith/Tammuz from the point of view of Lilith and it's kinda uncomfortable again. As in...Lilith has sex with the King of Urak in front of Inanna while she and Tammuz are watching. Lilith finds this exciting. Why is this a thing...? Because the King wanted to bang Inanna but Inanna is infertile, but Lilith is not!\\
+This was not something I expected to read.\\
+After this, Lilith and Tammuz have an affair until Inanna finds out. She rips Tammuz's penis off. Then she drags Lilith into the desert and chokes her to death. There some owls eat Lilith's eyes.\\
+Inanna, not understanding //consequences// is angry and sad that they're gone so she chooses to fix them. Lilith is only half-fixed, making her the first vampire.\\
+The writers also have the gall to say that drinking blood feels better than sex. Yeah, it //does//, //doesn't// it? **I wonder how that detail was forgotten in the rest of the book**.
+After this we get a post-sex scene in the book, so back to business as usual for the book and the in-book-book. Then we read the description of a handjob, so that's nice I guess.
+It's clear to me that this book is too racy for Michael Bay, he'd have had to tone it down a //lot//.
+Black Blood reaches the most interesting moment here. After explaining all of this, it suggests that a group of Islamists started digging up a statue in the desert. Like a giant statue. This statue is the possible tomb of Lilith...which means that she's sleeping there.\\
+Book!Felix called in a favor from the US military to have missiles level the place – hopefully killing Lilith (or whoever) in the process. A green sticky note notes that it's true that missiles were lobbed into the middle of nowhere, but he doesn't know what that means (uh-huh).\\
+The idea of the progenitor of vampires being in torpor to be dug up is actually very interesting. It's similar to [[lb:cod:bloodlines]].\\
+Naturally, they ruin it by comparing the missiles to penises and comparing the destruction of Lilith to a rape.
+The book ends with Adrian forcing Felix into a blood bond (which is another very interesting and creative use of vampire mechanics) and then her going to meet Lilith before the missiles hit. That's as far as we get.
+Now, after thinking about this whole thing...I think that this is another transparent attempt by the writers to pretend that vampire lore isn't set in stone when, in fact, it is.\\
+So, to add a little context: I had assumed that what differentiated Chronicles of Darkness from the old World of Darkness is that it took a bit more of a vague toolbox-like approach to lore and whatnot. However, this clanbook has shattered that illusion very quickly. I think that CoD takes that approach //overall//, but it's also not super good at it.\\
+I am 100% convinced that the events described in ‘Black Blood’ actually happened in the World of Darkness. I'm so convinced that I think the reason Felix is missing is purely because he got blood bonded by the author of this book, who is essentially bragging. Is the author male or female? I think it's actually likely that the author is female, but doesn't resemble Adrian that much.\\
+I am also 100% certain that Lilith is the progenitor of the Daeva clan. It's so obvious from how this is written that I don't think any other explanation is sufficient. Does Inanna exist and did those myths happen? That I don't think so. I think that Lilith probably had a relatively benign life until she became a vampire somehow. Maybe the broad strokes are vaguely similar, but probably not.
+==== The End ====
+I have reached the end of the fluff and...I'll take a moment to explain something.
+I'm not sure whether it's intended or not, but the ‘Collector’ is unambiguously the nicest vampire in all the sets of stories we see. He is empathetic towards others – actually feeling bad for people like Kevin and the crybaby relative of his – he generously compensates them for helping him with his research, he seems to genuinely love and care for Ayesha (despite her own claims that he's bad, we never see anything of the sorts) and he's also actually interested in the culture and history of his clan.\\
+This is important context for what happens.
+The final story is focused around him. Specifically the Collector talking to his loyal ghoul about how he has to go into Torpor because he's aging. So the ghoul will be made his son. The weird stuff appears again because the Collector kisses the ghoul. Yeah, I don't even. The ghoul also talks about the Collector like a love, which is very weird. Along with being adopted, he tasks his new son with taking care of the papers we've been reading.\\
+The Collector goes into torpor and the ghoul falls asleep. That final story was written by the ghoul and he declares that he will take good care of the notes((:fn:>The Collector adds that the people he initially trusted with the notes destroyed a portion of them, so he doesn't want to give them over. I don't know who these people are, but I'm guessing they're Mekhet, since one of his collaborators – Frances – was a Mekhet.)) and live a thousand nights until the Collector wakes up.
+Then Cat comes in and goes <q>“Nope, sorry asshole.”</q> and my rage is immeasurable.
+I was actually feeling bad for the Collector because, like I said, he genuinely came off as a nice person – unlike //all the other characters in the book// – only for another one of those characters to come in and take his collection away from him.
+Also, there's another mention of the Duchess. She's mentioned a few times, but I didn't mention her at all because she is barely plot-relevant. She'd described as beautiful and the Collector says she's jealous of people. I don't really get it.
+===== Conclusion =====
+This conclusion section is, so far, mostly focused on the hedonism present in the book. Specifically to address a possible counter-argument that will be leveled towards me: that the large focus on sex is fine because the Daeva are hedonists and, thus, it's only natural that sex will appear so often. This is also definitely what the authors think (because they even say that Daeva and sex kinda go hand-in-hand in the appendix). But I wouldn't say that's the case. And I'll explain why. In detail.
+Vampires in //Requiem// are walking corpses. As walking corpses...they are cold to the touch and their feelings are numbed. In order to warm up, they have to use the Blush of Life – spend some blood to feel alive again for a brief moment. Further, because they're vampires, their new ‘sex’ is the Kiss: drinking blood brings them more ecstasy than sex ever did in life and it pleasures the Kine they drink from as well.\\
+These two key facts are the main issue with “sex and Daeva”.\\
+Because there is an assumption that Daeva would go all-in on sex, but the consequences are not thought out. I go over a few above, but I'll summarize them here. Because it costs blood to even have sex, the process isn't exactly trivial. It isn't like a human, who can go at it essentially whenever and wherever: there is an explicit cost attached to it which additionally has some risks. Spending blood means you have to regain it later. So having sex for the purpose of getting that blood is counter-intuitive and entirely unnecessary when orgasm can be achieved by the human //and// vampire by drinking //without sex//. All the sex means is that the vampire has to drink //more// to make up for the loss, which comes with the risk of harming (or killing) the human they're drinking from in the first place.\\
+This is especially bad in the case of Mad and Kevin, where Kevin will have died within a week of meeting her based on how often they have sex. That would immediately bring attention towards Mad and result in her exposure or death.\\
+So some reason has to be given for //why// they keep having sex and the book makes no attempt at doing just that. So there's a massive hole in the logic behind the assumptions driving much of the book.
+The other major issue is on a more thematic meta-sense and once I lay it out, I think it'll become obvious that //Kiss of the Succubus// failed to deliver.\\
+The five clans of vampires in Requiem each represent a broad archetype of the vampire from fiction. And each of those also has a major theme attached. For the Daeva, the archetype is the ‘seducer’ and their theme is ‘passion’. For the Nosferatu, the archetype is the ‘inhuman monster’ and their theme ‘inhumanity’.((:fn:>Yeah I know, bear with me.))\\
+The Nosferatu, despite having that archetype, don't all just appear like ugly diseased monstrosities. Some of them actually appear fairly normal and only act monstrous. Some, in fact, appear so beautiful that it enters the Uncanny Valley and freaks others out in that way. Here you can clearly see that their theme was explored to the fullest. And I'm just mentioning a few examples.\\
+This book, meanwhile, assumes that //all Daeva are in some way sex-obsessed// and it barely acknowledges ‘passion’ manifesting in any way besides sex. The main examples of non-sex Daeva-like passion are within Kevin's 10 observed vampires – specifically the NARCANON organizer and art teacher – and Ayesha //possibly// embodying passion for rebellion. However, even those examples are implied to have some connection to sex.
+Wouldn't it have been significantly more interesting to see stuff like the game center nerd vampire? Someone who is passionate about games and playing games with others, so she positions herself as the Queen bee.\\
+Or, alternatively, that passion manifesting as religious Zeal? That topic is not touched on at all, despite the numerous references to the Lancae et Sanctum.
+Even putting aside the them of passion, the Daeva are the vampire clan closest to humanity. This is inherited from the [[lb:wod:Toreador]] from the old World of Darkness. Like the Toreador, they care the most about humans and are the overall nicest clan. The rest of the clans barely care about humanity as a whole – in fact, it's like the Daeva are the only clan who even have the capacity to care. This sets the Daeva apart big time.\\
+Wouldn't it have been interesting to see //how// the Daeva deal with this? Perhaps their friendliness with humans puts them in jeopardy. Or it's what allow the Kindred to actually interact with the world as a whole.
+Instead of constantly reading uncomfortable sex prose, we could have been reading about how the Daeva reconcile their existence as they predate on those they love.
+So, yeah, I think the cover is still pretty great.
+===== Trivilinks =====
+  * [[https://www.flamesrising.com/daeva-clanbook-review/|Review]] by ‘Billzilla’. I haven't read it, though a skim-thru indicates that it's significantly more positive than I am (downright ignorant, I'd say...). I'll read it later, but I'm including it because why not?