Tzimisce

The Tzimisce are a fictional clan of vampires, associated with the Sabbat, from White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade books and role-playing games. Their symbol is the Ouroboros. White Wolf states, "Tales speak of...disfigurements,..experiments, and tortures refined beyond...comprehension...Tzimisce are very territorial." (VtM3 -- p.86-87) These vampires are obsessed with their birthplaces and graves; they almost always carry their "sacred" dirt.

The Tzimisce are known for a body altering technique, vicissitude[?]. Tzimisce can magically alter their bodies, even melt them. For this clan, body alteration is an [[art] and a philosophy. Most tzimisces are transhumanists and darwinists, they seek perfection. Many elder tzimisce sooner or later becomes totaly lost in this cold and utterly inhuman way of thinking. They often "fleshcraft" themselves into another state of being. Often, they becom something alienated like a gigantic living organism made by living humans crated into one big...thing.

The most common "path of life" for a tzimisce is called the "path of metamorphosis" - a replacement for their lost humanity. A tzimisce with this path of life only have one goal with her whole existance, to become so powerful that the whole world becomes part of herself. A sort of inverted nirvana.

According to the tzimisce legend, The Cathedral of Flesh was (and is) the most beutiful creation ever. The Cathedral of Flesh is just what it sounds like, a gigantic living being formed into a cathedral. The legends say that the high priest was part of the cathedral and that he spoke with its walls instead of showing himself in person (because he had no person to show, because he was the cathedral). The cathedral has moved several times since it was created and is now located under New York.

References

• VtM3 -- Vampire: The Masquerade (3rd Edition) by White Wolf (1998)