OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL-ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 2 NUMBER 11, NOVEMBER 1999 IN THIS ISSUE …. FICTION: FRAGMENT OF THE BOOK OF SOUTRA [an affectionate pastiche of Beowulf, with a Jyhad slant] LEGBITER’S TERRIBLE WARNING AGAINST MAKING RASH PROMISES TO BUILD VIABLE CONCEPT DECKS [the second bit of last month’s deck building article, and a bit of damp squib I’m afraid] FICTION: FRAGMENT OF THE BOOK OF SOUTRA [Editor’s note: Soutra was a real place, a monastery just outside Edinburgh, and the site of some very strange ritual exsanguinatory practices that have a definite vampy feel about them. Inspired by the poetic trend in some other newsletters, by Seamus Heaney’s new translation of Beowulf, and by the reflection that Soutra was bigger than Lindisfarne from where our current Beowulf texts may well have originated, I composed this little pastiche on the Beowulf Epic]. High was the Hall King Harrod Built There Vitae from Victims Violently Slain Gushed in the Goblets of his Grateful Kin! But Light, Love and Laughter make a Fertile Mold Envy’s Evil Spite Grows Easily there And a Foul Felon soon stole upon the Friendly Fold. As the Night Broke the Nosferatu awakened to Nemesis Sleep-scumbled eyes Saw the Skinned Ghouls, the Smashed Crypts where the Kindred they loved had been Kissed to bed No more would those Mouths Mumble the Praises of Caine Nor those limbs so lithe in their leprosy drag the living to Lethe All drifting to doom down the dark storm-drain. Fear filled the faces of those Frightful Fiends Terror tormented those who had Troubled the Kine Word of the Nictuku was whispered, and whether Harrod’s Haven Uncovered could ever be healed. Rats ran at the ruler’s request, and returned Squeaking that the sewerlids remained sealed. Then each One was Wary of the Other; Within The Kingdom of the Cursed of Caine was the Culprit! From the Hall to their Faraway Fastnesses they fled Only Darkness dwelled on in the Domain of the Damned; God’s forgotten ones Groaned for a redeemer A Fierce Fighter for the Cause of the Defamed. Out of Outremer came a Saviour, One of the Vidfari Paragon of the Paynims, Parnassus was he called To the Court of the King he came, claiming secret knowledge Taking Counsel and Comfort to the Camarilla’s command A Contract he called for, a licence to Kill He whose henious hatred had spurred his vile hand. Grendel was that cruel spirit’s name The pool and pipe his fastness was, the mire his haunt In the High Hall of Harrod he harked on the horror he wrought Till the Audacious Assamite came at night to assail him The Harbinger of Hell hailed his prey with a High challenge Promising to Punish his pusillanimous Sin. Of that Famous Fight’s many Feats we have heard How the Night-blackened Nosferatu seized a sword from the shadows And struck at the Assamite, Dodging in Darkness; Then quick-witted Parnassus called on Quietus, catching His foe with a bitter blow, bashing him down To his devil-dam, ripe for despatching. LEGBITER’S TERRIBLE WARNING AGAINST MAKING RASH PROMISES TO BUILD VIABLE CONCEPT DECKS Last month I gaily promised to design a gangrel-anti combat deck based on the principles outlined in the last newsletter, and for the last two weeks I have been cursing myself for my arrogance. I hadn’t, you see, previously done any kind of analysis of the !gangrel disciplines, and it was only when I did so that I realised how terribly fragmented these are. Of all the clans only the Pander are worse in this respect, and they of course have the countervailing advantages of being cheap, and having Legacy of Pander [one of the best cards in the game]. Eventually I came up with the following creation, which uses the Todd Banister Infernal Familiar trick to create a pot/pro/for kind of a deck and aims to do lots of rushes and a bit of grave-robbing. However, I am under no illusion that this is a GOOD deck, and nor should you be. It is sleepy [no wake- ups], slow [big vampires] and feeble [no votes or decent bleeds]. I present it nevertheless as a Terrible Warning to newsletter editors not to write articles on the hoof. Next time I will have the deck built before I make rash promises about it. Well, maybe the time after next. November’s NL project is going to be how to design a decent !Gangrel deck without initially limiting it to being mainly combat, and this will almost certainly mean basing it around the Gangrel anti-girlies who have decent specials and/or are Caitlin. CRYPT 3 x Leon 3 for ani 2 x Samantha 10 ani tha PRO OBF CEL Bishop 2 x Shane Grimald 4 pot dom ani 2 x Zachary 7 for pre PRO OBF CEL 3 x Pieter 6 tha for PRO OBF LIBRARY 2 x Hand of Conrad 10 x Bum’s Rush 5 x Ambush 5 x Torn Signpost 10 x Immortal Grapple 4 x Flesh of Marble 4 x Infernal Familiar 4 x Amaranth 2 x Ritual of the Bitter Rose 6 x Freak Drive 4 x Disarm 6 x Skin of Steel 2 x Skin of Night 4 x Wolf Claws 4 x Grave Robbing Heidelberg Castle Pentex Loves You! Hungry Coyote 2 x Rotshreck 3 x Minion Tap 2 x Blood Doll Festivo Dell’ Estinto Giant’s Blood Depravity Dominate Potence Twisted Forest 2 x Gangrel Conspiracy For those who want a decent Gangrel anti combat deck I can only refer you to George Fink’s JOL deck which is archived somewhere in the !Gangrel NLs [in cloned-from-asheap form]. Actually there is another very good one on a central european site but I promised the owner not to publish it till he gave me permission. Next month is the Christmas issue, and after that you don’t have to read any more of my rubbish until the next millennium! Happy now????