The monster may be the same, but the context has changed.

Victorian tales are florid and overwrought, and the vampires of the age serve as paragons of their ideals. With equal pathos, they serve as exemplars of tragedy and ignominious villainy.

Some seek redemption or nobility or forgiveness, evincing some sense of mortal certitude - even if they are cursed to fail. Others defy civilisation itself, displaying extreme acts of amorality that exceed the most extreme tales of horror. As such a creature you portray the villain in this Gothic play, whether as a madman hiding in the shadows or as a cruel nobleman languishing in a manor by candlelight. The gaslit streets of a vast city beckon, offering a respite from madness and uncertainty.

The Victorian age witnessed the debut of the vampire (as we know it today, in any case), and the bloodsucking undead seemed to be everywhere. Purportedly factual news accounts of bloodsucking corpses had made their way from Eastern Europe into English tabloids. Those accounts, in turn, paved the way for the publication of John Polidori's "The Vampyre" in 1819. Karl Marx likened the wealthy to vampires feeding off the life's blood of the proletariat. Following his example, the common man began accusing the British aristocracy of vampirism while the aristocracy began accusing the commoners of being torch-bearing rabble (another image that has made it into the Gothic image vault thanks to Frankenstein). The public had a seemingly endless thirst for accounts of vampirism, and throughout the 19th century, writers were more than happy to deliver, with each lurid account outdoing the last.

Victorian England is an eclectic mix of styles and excessive ornamentation; plump armchairs and overstuffed, heavily upholstered furniture. Everything comes in rich, dark colours- ruby red and forest green - with fabric draping from the mantelshelf, perhaps dangerously.

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Masculine preserves, libraries and billiard rooms are built in the Gothic style, while the frivolous feminine style of rococo is popular for ladies. Button backs, easy chairs, pouffes and ottomans crown every room with furniture. Ornate and ostentatious, any available surface is covered with ornaments. Stuffed animals stare blankly from glass domes.


Improper Topics and Impure Thoughts

As you may know, it is a distinctly Victorian tendency to dismiss certain taboo topics out of hand, as though they cease to exist entirely by the proper lady's and gentleman's refusal to speak of them.

Certain matter of religion, political thought and social theory - to say nothing of those details of affection and reproduction! - are never spoken of in polite company, and often never spoken of at all.

This odd notion is found among the Kindred no less than the kine, and many of England's vampires have their own ideas of which topics are and are not acceptable. As a result, many childer of Kindred with Victorian sensibilities find themselves dangerously undereducated in Kindred affairs.

Many "civilised" Camarilla Kindred, for instance, even find thinking about the Sabbat to be a simply ghastly experience; what call is there to upset the sophisticated tone of Elysium with such things? From there, it is but the shortest of steps to a refusal to speak of the Sabbat at all. This, in turn, leads to a small but growing number of neonates who are utterly unaware of the opposing sect's existence.

Some few Kindred take their taboos further still. Although thankfully uncommon, it is not entirely unheard of for certain vampires to refuse to discuss even so basic a process as feeding, as it involves the base transfer of bodily fluids. The unfortunate childer of such deluded vampires can enter the night with precious little knowledge of their true natures; clan, Disciplines and even the basics of feedings (such as the fact that they need not kill) are foreign.

These near-Caitiff are threats not only to themselves and any unfortunate enough to cross their paths, but to the Masquerade itself. It is not, unfortunately, a problem that presents any easy solutions; a vampire so bound by "propriety" that she would undereducate her childe is not likely to be persuaded to change her beliefs.


Victorian Innovations

Civilised Transport

Although motorised vehicles do exist in the 1880s, they are little more than mechanical diversions for the wealthy. For Victorians, the primary mode of transport is by horse, either as a mount for riding or as a beast of burden to pull a wheeled wagon, carriage or similar conveyance.

Urbanites may be familiar with the ostentatious "growler," a four-wheeled carriage large enough to isolate its passengers from the world outside their conveyance. Some are large enough to easily be converted for a vampire's use, once its owner adds dark curtains, puts locks on the doors and, perhaps, adds a compartment beneath the coach for storing a body or two. Also known as a "Clarence," this type of carriage can hold four passengers, while a fifth can request to ride up front with the driver. Less reputable sorts may try to perch on the back axle, remaining hidden from the driver.

The hansom cab, sometimes referred to as the "gondola of London," is a smaller, two-wheeled cart. Though typically intended for two passengers, three can squeeze inside with a minimal amount of discomfort. The driver rides on a high seat at the rear of the carriage, balancing their passengers between himself and his horse. It's not secure enough for a Kindred's daytime travel, though, as it has half-doors on either side, with barely enough room for luggage on the floor.

In the wealthier districts of London, one needs only to stand on a curbside and wave diligently to attract a passing driver. Cab drivers, known as "jarveys," typically charge a mere shilling for a passenger or two to ride less than two miles, with an additional sixpence for each additional mile. For a modest fee, the driver can wait for his passengers; this typically costs about sixpence for each quarter hour.

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For nightly excursions, the wealthy may travel in style in a "Victoria," an open vehicle with a collapsible hood (for inclement weather). Up to five passengers may ride through the streets of London in this fashionable carriage for about a pound a day. For a slightly higher fee (or an efficacious application of the Gifts of Caine). the jarvey will remain oblivious to the conversations of a coterie inside.

 

Transit for the Masses

In 1884, the first tube of the London Underground opens, and in 1890, the first underground railway tunnel begins operation.

As the age progresses, so does underground transit. In Victorian Gotham, for example, one may cross the island of Manhattan in less than 15 minutes. This allows the gentlemen businessman to commute home quickly from his place of business, but it also enables the criminal element a means of entering the same neighbourhood with equal alacrity. And any who frequent these subterranean warrens at odd hours may be confronted with creatures who employ it for a very different means: hunting for mortal prey undiscovered.

Gas Lighting

Gaslight was invented by William Murdock, a Scottish engineer. This innovation relied upon a practical method of distilling gas from coal. Initially, one of the most useful applications of his discovery was in the theatre.

Gas lighting was first successfully adapted for the stage in 1803 at London's Lyceum Theatre. In 1816, the Chestnut Street Opera House in Philadelphia instilled a more complex gas lighting system. It supplied its own gas by means of a gas generator within the building. By the 1850s, several cities (including, of course, London) began the installation of gas stations and city mains.

Its theatrical applications led to many of its first innovations and demonstrated several obvious advantages over other forms of light. For a start, the flame produced was not monly brighter than oil lamps or candles, but also easier to control. By varying control valves from a central point, a technically proficient Thespian could gradually increase or decrease its light or even affect this change at varying speeds. For dramatic effect, gaslight made it easier to darken the lights in a theatre or auditorium. The most elaborate systems employed a "gas table" to display these control mechanisms (which served as the forerunner of the modern switchboard).

Of course, the system was not without its disadvantages. The heat it produced was an inconvenience, and the vapours it created were often offensive. Both concerns paled in comparison to its obvious threat as a fire hazard - a complication that understandably terrifies the Kindred.

What Hath God Wrought?

As history tells us, these words comprise the first message sent by telegraph. Over the next 20 years, Morse code becomes the technological lingua franca of international communication.

For less than two pounds, a resident of London can send carefully chosen words around the globe. By 1890, the time required to deliver a message by telegraph from London to Sydney, Australia is reduced to a scant three hours. By 1898, when Queen Victoria sends a message throughout her colonies for her Diamond Jubilee, she dispatches 10 words by telegraph, which within three hours travels to colonies from Jamaica to Cape Town, from Hong Kong to Montreal, signifying the triumph of the telegraph over the boundaries of geography.

Social Reform

Many of Karl Marx's works were first printed and translated after his death in 1883.

Volume Two of Das Kapital was printed in 1885, while Volume One was first printed in English in 1886. At the same time, the Fabian Society called for social reform and an end to monarchy. In a far more brutal outburst of rebellion, the Dynamiters become the terror of London, leaving their nitroglycerin bombs on British railways and other public places. In 1884, the same year the Fabian Society is founded, the Dynamiters strike at Scotland Yard itself. As vampiric society echoes mortal innovation, some of these social reforms even find their way into the customs of the Un-Dead. The Sabbat, for example, harbours its own society of Fabians determined to bring down the malign plutocracy of the Camarilla.

Design made with ♥ by Delia Drew, 2015.

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