CHAPTER 4 - Casting Shadows: Storytelling

The following pieces of correspondence between the Abyss Mystic Agatha and the Necromancer [TO BE DETERMINED] were found together between various pages of the Leges Abyssi.

Dear Brother,
I have many questions I would ask you, concerning the Abyss mostly, from which the Lasombra's power is drawn.

The Ocean
Firstly, one should remember the Lasombra attraction to water and the sea which may give some clues to the nature of the Abyss. Perhaps it is in some way connected to the same dark places from which the Churlorviasis springs, a disturbing thought indeed.

Kuie-Jin
Cathayans are already connected if one successfully connects Wraith to it as they have relatively easy ways to travel into the Shadowlands and beyond, in fact they can even travel to the Yang world and go visit the Abyss Realm detailed in Werewolf.
KotE has the same thing actually but as they have fairly common rite's, and even a few discipline powers, to travel into either Shadowlands or the umbra they are as easy to connect to the Abyss as Werewolves, or even easier if considering their easy connections to the Underworld as well. Also a thing to note is that the Kuei-Jin have been seen to learn a few new tricks through their association with the Kin-Jin, Cainites, as shown by them learning new techniques to Yin Prana, allowing them to control more direct manifestations of Entropy/Oblivion, from the Nagaraja refugees in the Green Courts. So there is a possibility that the Kuei-jin could learn some Abyss related powers from prolonged contact with Lasombra Abyss mystics. Whether this would be a good thing or not is of course debatable, especially considering the Kuei-Jin notably closer associations with the Spirit worlds.

Mummies
Mummies are already connected if one successfully connects Wraith to it as they have relatively easy ways to travel into the Shadowlands and beyond
Like said Mummy have access to the Shadowlands and the rest of the Underworld both through their Necromancy and their Death Cycles. But I must say that I don't remember them having much access to the Umbra and so to the Abyss Realm itself. So yes the easiest way to link them to Abyss is through the Underworld, but do note that if facing Lasombra they will likely make the association with their powers of darkness and Apophis almost immediately and react accordingly.

The Tempest
Tempest is a realm comprised of tempestuous emotions located between the Shadowlands and the Labyrinth.

Oblivion
Oblivion is not the Abyss nor could any Abyss mystic be able to summon shadow beings from the Abyss in that case for there is nothing in Oblivion. Oblivion is quite simply the End.
It truly might be what was before everything else and what could be once Oblivion swallowed all that exists, as the Neverborn might well be beyond even the power of Oblivion to destroy and once all that is left is them, the Children, and their dreams of darkness and all would be as it was.
Oblivion is a force felt by each and every spectre, as they carry it's taint with them, and it offers them release from their constant agony, the peace of non-existence. This alone might cause some Spectre to start worshiping it but there is more to it than that.
Also as beings of emotion, and in the case of Shades pure emotion, it becomes them to give such emotional meaning to Oblivion and it's Children the Neverborn.
Spectral Oblivion Cults amongst the living including how the Spectres can grant investments to their chosen priests.

The Labyrinth
he Labyrinth is, the home, and sometimes the very flesh, of the Neverborn beings older perhaps than the Elohim or even the Creator itself. Why would a god, or the Heavenly Host itself, imprison the Fallen so close to the greatest threat to very existence itself?

The Neverborn
As an alternative option I offer you the possibility that the Abyss that the Lasombra tap into could be the darkness beyond existence itself. Somewhere far beyond the Horizon. For who truly knows what lies beyond that which is and that what is not.
So the question remains what and where the Abyss does lie? I personally think that the Abyss lies within the Dreaming minds of the Neverborn manifested within the Umbra far beyond the Horizon and anything resembling reality. Abyss is the darkness the Neverborn dream of that exists beyond all that is created.
This has the disturbing effect of making most of the Lasombra into unwitting servants of the Neverborn's dreams and Abyss Mystics would be those to take out that dreamstuff and give it a way to break through the boundaries of worlds and enter our realm even if only in small manifestations.
The Neverborn as creatures of purest Oblivion, with but the slight flaw of existence stubbornly hanging on to them for now, inflict their will through their dreams that echo through the, and are, Hive-Mind. Once you feel their non-existent whispers within your mind you can do little but fall down in worship of them and their "master", as former people Spectres tend to personify powers beyond comprehension like Oblivion. After all existence is merely a story about the triumph of the Neverborn as seen from the point of view of the loosing party.

The Baali
if you think about the Children, who are beings native to the Primordial Darkness that was before before there was light and so perhaps before there was God, it comes as no surprise if the Baali are somehow connected to the Abyss.
the Children seem to most closely resemble the Neverborn, and have been at times hinted at being them, that brings up the disturbing connection to Oblivion once more
As for the Baali perspective the Lasombra might play with the echoes of the Children's names twisted so far as to mostly revere their dreams but still even those echoes hold power. Each prayer of devotion send by an Abyss Mystic to bring the darkness here and give it form and malefic sentience strengthens the Children's dreams. Yet the Baali are unsure if it works to keep the Children asleep, as their dreams gain power, or to awaken them, as their dreams are drawn towards reality.
Baali with which you are already familiar, which has some information about both the dreams of the Children and how the Baali, at least those following Moloch, seek keep those dreams pleasant to the Children as to not awaken them.
Baali also has a level six Daimoinon power that breaches the walls of reality for the briefest glimpse of that which lies beyond.

The Biblical Abyss
Abyss of the Fallen is located somewhere within the Underworld so that they could hear the cry's of souls lost to various Maelstroms which would suggest that the walls are perhaps against the Tempest, meaning most likely that they are either trapped in a realm of their own, floating within the Tempest, or somewhere within the Labyrinth itself.
Also Abyss where the Fallen were imprisoned has been stated to contain nothing but the Fallen themselves, thus making it different from the Abyss that Obteneration connects to and from which Abyss Mystics call their shadowy slaves.
Demon is a tricky game since, if we take the Abyss to be what is outside existence and what was before God created light, the Fallen have by necessity been created after or at the time of separation of that which is and that which is not. That is even they have little to none contact with the Neverborn, the Children and that which was before the first act of creation and being. This is made especially tricky by the fact that the Fallen seem to have only the capability to interact with and travel to the Shadowlands and no true ability to traverse through the Umbra, in fact the Umbra seems to be outside their area of expertise which naturally creates a small dent in their credibility as creators of our world through their Lores. That aside they too can be connected to the Abyss through the Shadowlands and the Neverborn and their dreams. Then again their seeming ignorance of the greatest enemies of creation slumbering there in the center of their haven for human souls is a bit odd don't you think?
Now the thing is that according to DtF a Slayer, Halaku, named Charon (what a blatant ripoff from Wraith I know) created a place called Haven to shelter and protect human souls from the Host of Heaven. It is said that to create it he, and the other Halaku, had to pierce through to the void beyond Creation, which implies direct contact with unbeing and so perhaps the Neverborn and Oblivion but of these there is no mention. It is mostly portrayed as a perfect but for one flaw the barrier that separated it from the living world left a pallor of decay over everything. Still no mention of this Charon himself ever noticing these being of uncreation, as old as the first act of creation itself, slumbering in the hearth of this Haven not to mention he seems to miss the fact that there is an actual gateway to Oblivion within the realm itself. Now then the Fallen lost and were banished into the Abyss, with the exception of Charon who had fled deep into the Haven during the final battles of the War, and when they return in the modern day they are horrified by what the Haven has become, the Underworld has changed drastically by each Great Maelstrom after all. And only now these modern slayers have started to learn that there is something called the Labyrinth at the hearth of their Haven and that it is inhabited by some things unknown to Angel and Fallen alike, do note that this is mostly through proxy and intel gathered from the dead not anything any of them have witnessed. Yet no Slayer is willing to travel into the Labyrinth as it lies too close to the walls of the Abyss within which they were imprisoned in so all they have is stories of the dead. Naturally, as beings of great hubris they interpret this to mean that the entities within this Labyrinth are either Fallen, or most likely Earthbound, changed further by their long residence in such a place, perhaps they are what remains of those rebels who fled into the depths of Haven at the end of the War. But like said they still have no clue of what lies in the very heart of their "Haven". Thanks to this ignorance and the fact that it seems only Charon, if even he, knows the true lay out of the Haven it seems to me that the Fallen had no idea of what they did as they created their Haven for souls and that they never even noticed how beings from beyond creation rested at the very center of their realm.
So no I'm not actually inferring that the Neverborn are demons quite the contrary I infer that the demons never even noticed how they practically offered human souls to these beings by leading them to a realm in which they resided. Blinded by their own Hubris and War against Heaven they never noticed the true enemy at their doorstep.
The only other option is that Charon, and his lieutenants, knew of these beings residing within the center of Haven and either did not care or made a pact of some sort with them what this pact would be, considering the Neverborn wish to cast all things into Oblivion and the Halaku's claimed goal of protecting and preserving human souls, I have no idea. But still it is a disturbing thought that the Halaku might have know that they had opened the door for Oblivion through their Haven especially so as their reasons for such an act are not readily apparent unless it is to reap the greatest harvest by killing all that is and in so doing killing God as well.

The Umbral Abyss Realm
Umbral Abyss on the other hand does, if my memory serves me correctly, have shadowy beings inhabiting it and in many ways it may be what the Discipline draws forth.
[the following was written by Agathe Ze Night] We are all aware that there is a realm in “Umbra the Velvet Shadow” that is obviously called the Abyss but in MtA this realm as an other name: the Chasm (u can find it’s description in the “Book of Worlds” p56). The fact that Nightmaster appears in both book and that the chasm has also the way of gold, silver and iron is imho a proof that they are one and the same.
The Chasm as presented in the Book of Worlds add the bridge of despair, the description of 2 other paths (the Way of Steel and the Way of Soil) and a bunch of detail concerning the paths they share in common. It seem to me as if the chasm is a cemetery of the memory, a place where objects, plants, people & gods fade from memory:
The Way of Gold leads to your own cemetery: Self-destruction
The Way of Silver lead to what I call the cemetery of forgotten diety (Fae ? Could have something to do with the Kyasid)
The Way of Iron leads to the the cemetery of human, the low umbra through the black labyrinth of the Wyrm
At one point there is the Bridge of Despair, which is made of bones and causes deep depression (forbidding anyone not able to resist it to leave the realm)
The Way of Steel leads to, the cemetery of objects: the lost & fond place of the umbra
The Way of Soil leads to the cemetery of plants
I belive the different "Way" are touching different aspect of the Umbra (like different levels of pressure within the darkness) That would make the Abyss a realm "in between" the other realm or at least "at the edge" of the other realms. The way of gold could be a lead to an Astral reach, to a reversed epiphany, to the Nihil or even (unlikely to happend) to the motherhood (see the Infinite Tapestry p93); the Way of Silver be connected to Arcadia or a least to the Arcadia gateway realm of the middle umbra; the Way of Iron to the Underworld; the Way of Steel seem close to the part of the penumbra where objects are lost, mostly in the city close to the weaver; while the way of Soil could lead close to the wild side of the penumbra…
The Deep Caves share some resemblance with the description of the Null Zone. There could also be some resemblance with the Lasombra’s Abyss since it’s at the bottom of the realm and the darkness should be total, thick and heavy. The place u can observe through the widows seen in the caves is the earth seen through it’s shadows… It might be linked with the penumbra of the way of soil and the way of steel…
Even though it seem easy for it’s inhabitant to leave the realm, but what really hold them in is the deep depression state felt by all his denizen which erase all will to leave… the perfect cell for infernal shades, long dead or the same: long forgotten…
By the way the description of the Nether Realm (the astral Hell, aka known as the Nihil) in the “Book of Worlds”, p 35, mention that the entrance is made by “the tunnel downward”, “leading down into darkness” [this concludes Agathe's portion]

Changelings
Changeling has plenty of darkness in it that could serve as connections to the Abyss but nothing specific comes to mind. Of course we have little real knowledge of the Green Court Fomorians except that they were powerful enough that they were not defeated by the Tuatha but decided to slumber of their own accord and for their own reasons. So who knows if these monsters of primordial nightmare, or merely primordeal dreams which may seem like nightmares to most sentient beings, are connected to the primordial beings that are the Neverborn but such connection has not been officially made. And there are always the Black Paths of Balor for those interested in seeing the Shadowlands for themselves and the Green (at least if I remember correctly) Paths of Balor for those who would visit the Abyss Realm within the Umbra.
The thing is there is fairly little know about the Green Court except that they exiciled themselves at the end of their war with the Tuatha, but it's a probable association for any Changeling coming into contact with information about the Neverborn to make. After all both are slumbering horrors from the time before time wielding unimaginable power and likely to cause the end of everything as we know should they ever be roused to take direct action. So it is, in my humble opinion, a reasonable way to look at things.

Mortals
The connection for mortals would likely be either through the static magic Path of Shadowcontrol or through Lasombra Vitae and Ghouldom.
the Victorian era had a certain resurgence of mysticism during it which would lead many humans interested in the Occult to doors they should never open, Abyss Mysticism is just one of them. As for non Hedge Wizard mortals, it could be actual Mages as well do note, I would say that people joining an Occult society that had an Hedge Wizard Shadow Crafter in it might likely get associated by default and might even participate in rituals venerating the Abyss without having such a full understanding of it or principles behind magic to enact hedge wizardry by himself.
Mortals who would pick up Shadow Crafting are amongst other things curious occultists, people who would serve a deity whose dominion included darkness and people who had an encounter with something able to manipulate shadows to mention few possibilities. All these could come up as antagonists in a Vampire chronicle as they too are wielding greater power when it is dark, and some might even come looking for Vampires if they had any foreknowledge of them being able to wield darkness as well.

The Well of Bones

The Well of Souls

The following pieces of correspondence between the Abyss Mystic Agatha and the Necromancer [TO BE DETERMINED] were found together between various pages of the Leges Abyssi.

Dear Brother,
I have many questions I would ask you, concerning the Abyss mostly, from which the Lasombra's power is drawn.

The Ocean
Firstly, one should remember the Lasombra attraction to water and the sea which may give some clues to the nature of the Abyss. Perhaps it is in some way connected to the same dark places from which the Churlorviasis springs, a disturbing thought indeed.

Kuie-Jin
Cathayans are already connected if one successfully connects Wraith to it as they have relatively easy ways to travel into the Shadowlands and beyond, in fact they can even travel to the Yang world and go visit the Abyss Realm detailed in Werewolf.
KotE has the same thing actually but as they have fairly common rite's, and even a few discipline powers, to travel into either Shadowlands or the umbra they are as easy to connect to the Abyss as Werewolves, or even easier if considering their easy connections to the Underworld as well. Also a thing to note is that the Kuei-Jin have been seen to learn a few new tricks through their association with the Kin-Jin, Cainites, as shown by them learning new techniques to Yin Prana, allowing them to control more direct manifestations of Entropy/Oblivion, from the Nagaraja refugees in the Green Courts. So there is a possibility that the Kuei-jin could learn some Abyss related powers from prolonged contact with Lasombra Abyss mystics. Whether this would be a good thing or not is of course debatable, especially considering the Kuei-Jin notably closer associations with the Spirit worlds.

Mummies
Mummies are already connected if one successfully connects Wraith to it as they have relatively easy ways to travel into the Shadowlands and beyond
Like said Mummy have access to the Shadowlands and the rest of the Underworld both through their Necromancy and their Death Cycles. But I must say that I don't remember them having much access to the Umbra and so to the Abyss Realm itself. So yes the easiest way to link them to Abyss is through the Underworld, but do note that if facing Lasombra they will likely make the association with their powers of darkness and Apophis almost immediately and react accordingly.

The Tempest
Tempest is a realm comprised of tempestuous emotions located between the Shadowlands and the Labyrinth.

Oblivion
Oblivion is not the Abyss nor could any Abyss mystic be able to summon shadow beings from the Abyss in that case for there is nothing in Oblivion. Oblivion is quite simply the End.
It truly might be what was before everything else and what could be once Oblivion swallowed all that exists, as the Neverborn might well be beyond even the power of Oblivion to destroy and once all that is left is them, the Children, and their dreams of darkness and all would be as it was.
Oblivion is a force felt by each and every spectre, as they carry it's taint with them, and it offers them release from their constant agony, the peace of non-existence. This alone might cause some Spectre to start worshiping it but there is more to it than that.
Also as beings of emotion, and in the case of Shades pure emotion, it becomes them to give such emotional meaning to Oblivion and it's Children the Neverborn.
Spectral Oblivion Cults amongst the living including how the Spectres can grant investments to their chosen priests.

The Labyrinth
he Labyrinth is, the home, and sometimes the very flesh, of the Neverborn beings older perhaps than the Elohim or even the Creator itself. Why would a god, or the Heavenly Host itself, imprison the Fallen so close to the greatest threat to very existence itself?

The Neverborn
As an alternative option I offer you the possibility that the Abyss that the Lasombra tap into could be the darkness beyond existence itself. Somewhere far beyond the Horizon. For who truly knows what lies beyond that which is and that what is not.
So the question remains what and where the Abyss does lie? I personally think that the Abyss lies within the Dreaming minds of the Neverborn manifested within the Umbra far beyond the Horizon and anything resembling reality. Abyss is the darkness the Neverborn dream of that exists beyond all that is created.
This has the disturbing effect of making most of the Lasombra into unwitting servants of the Neverborn's dreams and Abyss Mystics would be those to take out that dreamstuff and give it a way to break through the boundaries of worlds and enter our realm even if only in small manifestations.
The Neverborn as creatures of purest Oblivion, with but the slight flaw of existence stubbornly hanging on to them for now, inflict their will through their dreams that echo through the, and are, Hive-Mind. Once you feel their non-existent whispers within your mind you can do little but fall down in worship of them and their "master", as former people Spectres tend to personify powers beyond comprehension like Oblivion. After all existence is merely a story about the triumph of the Neverborn as seen from the point of view of the loosing party.

The Baali
if you think about the Children, who are beings native to the Primordial Darkness that was before before there was light and so perhaps before there was God, it comes as no surprise if the Baali are somehow connected to the Abyss.
the Children seem to most closely resemble the Neverborn, and have been at times hinted at being them, that brings up the disturbing connection to Oblivion once more
As for the Baali perspective the Lasombra might play with the echoes of the Children's names twisted so far as to mostly revere their dreams but still even those echoes hold power. Each prayer of devotion send by an Abyss Mystic to bring the darkness here and give it form and malefic sentience strengthens the Children's dreams. Yet the Baali are unsure if it works to keep the Children asleep, as their dreams gain power, or to awaken them, as their dreams are drawn towards reality.
Baali with which you are already familiar, which has some information about both the dreams of the Children and how the Baali, at least those following Moloch, seek keep those dreams pleasant to the Children as to not awaken them.
Baali also has a level six Daimoinon power that breaches the walls of reality for the briefest glimpse of that which lies beyond.

The Biblical Abyss
Abyss of the Fallen is located somewhere within the Underworld so that they could hear the cry's of souls lost to various Maelstroms which would suggest that the walls are perhaps against the Tempest, meaning most likely that they are either trapped in a realm of their own, floating within the Tempest, or somewhere within the Labyrinth itself.
Also Abyss where the Fallen were imprisoned has been stated to contain nothing but the Fallen themselves, thus making it different from the Abyss that Obteneration connects to and from which Abyss Mystics call their shadowy slaves.
Demon is a tricky game since, if we take the Abyss to be what is outside existence and what was before God created light, the Fallen have by necessity been created after or at the time of separation of that which is and that which is not. That is even they have little to none contact with the Neverborn, the Children and that which was before the first act of creation and being. This is made especially tricky by the fact that the Fallen seem to have only the capability to interact with and travel to the Shadowlands and no true ability to traverse through the Umbra, in fact the Umbra seems to be outside their area of expertise which naturally creates a small dent in their credibility as creators of our world through their Lores. That aside they too can be connected to the Abyss through the Shadowlands and the Neverborn and their dreams. Then again their seeming ignorance of the greatest enemies of creation slumbering there in the center of their haven for human souls is a bit odd don't you think?
Now the thing is that according to DtF a Slayer, Halaku, named Charon (what a blatant ripoff from Wraith I know) created a place called Haven to shelter and protect human souls from the Host of Heaven. It is said that to create it he, and the other Halaku, had to pierce through to the void beyond Creation, which implies direct contact with unbeing and so perhaps the Neverborn and Oblivion but of these there is no mention. It is mostly portrayed as a perfect but for one flaw the barrier that separated it from the living world left a pallor of decay over everything. Still no mention of this Charon himself ever noticing these being of uncreation, as old as the first act of creation itself, slumbering in the hearth of this Haven not to mention he seems to miss the fact that there is an actual gateway to Oblivion within the realm itself. Now then the Fallen lost and were banished into the Abyss, with the exception of Charon who had fled deep into the Haven during the final battles of the War, and when they return in the modern day they are horrified by what the Haven has become, the Underworld has changed drastically by each Great Maelstrom after all. And only now these modern slayers have started to learn that there is something called the Labyrinth at the hearth of their Haven and that it is inhabited by some things unknown to Angel and Fallen alike, do note that this is mostly through proxy and intel gathered from the dead not anything any of them have witnessed. Yet no Slayer is willing to travel into the Labyrinth as it lies too close to the walls of the Abyss within which they were imprisoned in so all they have is stories of the dead. Naturally, as beings of great hubris they interpret this to mean that the entities within this Labyrinth are either Fallen, or most likely Earthbound, changed further by their long residence in such a place, perhaps they are what remains of those rebels who fled into the depths of Haven at the end of the War. But like said they still have no clue of what lies in the very heart of their "Haven". Thanks to this ignorance and the fact that it seems only Charon, if even he, knows the true lay out of the Haven it seems to me that the Fallen had no idea of what they did as they created their Haven for souls and that they never even noticed how beings from beyond creation rested at the very center of their realm.
So no I'm not actually inferring that the Neverborn are demons quite the contrary I infer that the demons never even noticed how they practically offered human souls to these beings by leading them to a realm in which they resided. Blinded by their own Hubris and War against Heaven they never noticed the true enemy at their doorstep.
The only other option is that Charon, and his lieutenants, knew of these beings residing within the center of Haven and either did not care or made a pact of some sort with them what this pact would be, considering the Neverborn wish to cast all things into Oblivion and the Halaku's claimed goal of protecting and preserving human souls, I have no idea. But still it is a disturbing thought that the Halaku might have know that they had opened the door for Oblivion through their Haven especially so as their reasons for such an act are not readily apparent unless it is to reap the greatest harvest by killing all that is and in so doing killing God as well.

The Umbral Abyss Realm
Umbral Abyss on the other hand does, if my memory serves me correctly, have shadowy beings inhabiting it and in many ways it may be what the Discipline draws forth.
[the following was written by Agathe Ze Night] We are all aware that there is a realm in “Umbra the Velvet Shadow” that is obviously called the Abyss but in MtA this realm as an other name: the Chasm (u can find it’s description in the “Book of Worlds” p56). The fact that Nightmaster appears in both book and that the chasm has also the way of gold, silver and iron is imho a proof that they are one and the same.
The Chasm as presented in the Book of Worlds add the bridge of despair, the description of 2 other paths (the Way of Steel and the Way of Soil) and a bunch of detail concerning the paths they share in common. It seem to me as if the chasm is a cemetery of the memory, a place where objects, plants, people & gods fade from memory:
The Way of Gold leads to your own cemetery: Self-destruction
The Way of Silver lead to what I call the cemetery of forgotten diety (Fae ? Could have something to do with the Kyasid)
The Way of Iron leads to the the cemetery of human, the low umbra through the black labyrinth of the Wyrm
At one point there is the Bridge of Despair, which is made of bones and causes deep depression (forbidding anyone not able to resist it to leave the realm)
The Way of Steel leads to, the cemetery of objects: the lost & fond place of the umbra
The Way of Soil leads to the cemetery of plants
I belive the different "Way" are touching different aspect of the Umbra (like different levels of pressure within the darkness) That would make the Abyss a realm "in between" the other realm or at least "at the edge" of the other realms. The way of gold could be a lead to an Astral reach, to a reversed epiphany, to the Nihil or even (unlikely to happend) to the motherhood (see the Infinite Tapestry p93); the Way of Silver be connected to Arcadia or a least to the Arcadia gateway realm of the middle umbra; the Way of Iron to the Underworld; the Way of Steel seem close to the part of the penumbra where objects are lost, mostly in the city close to the weaver; while the way of Soil could lead close to the wild side of the penumbra…
The Deep Caves share some resemblance with the description of the Null Zone. There could also be some resemblance with the Lasombra’s Abyss since it’s at the bottom of the realm and the darkness should be total, thick and heavy. The place u can observe through the widows seen in the caves is the earth seen through it’s shadows… It might be linked with the penumbra of the way of soil and the way of steel…
Even though it seem easy for it’s inhabitant to leave the realm, but what really hold them in is the deep depression state felt by all his denizen which erase all will to leave… the perfect cell for infernal shades, long dead or the same: long forgotten…
By the way the description of the Nether Realm (the astral Hell, aka known as the Nihil) in the “Book of Worlds”, p 35, mention that the entrance is made by “the tunnel downward”, “leading down into darkness” [this concludes Agathe's portion]

Changelings
Changeling has plenty of darkness in it that could serve as connections to the Abyss but nothing specific comes to mind. Of course we have little real knowledge of the Green Court Fomorians except that they were powerful enough that they were not defeated by the Tuatha but decided to slumber of their own accord and for their own reasons. So who knows if these monsters of primordial nightmare, or merely primordeal dreams which may seem like nightmares to most sentient beings, are connected to the primordial beings that are the Neverborn but such connection has not been officially made. And there are always the Black Paths of Balor for those interested in seeing the Shadowlands for themselves and the Green (at least if I remember correctly) Paths of Balor for those who would visit the Abyss Realm within the Umbra.
The thing is there is fairly little know about the Green Court except that they exiciled themselves at the end of their war with the Tuatha, but it's a probable association for any Changeling coming into contact with information about the Neverborn to make. After all both are slumbering horrors from the time before time wielding unimaginable power and likely to cause the end of everything as we know should they ever be roused to take direct action. So it is, in my humble opinion, a reasonable way to look at things.

Mortals
The connection for mortals would likely be either through the static magic Path of Shadowcontrol or through Lasombra Vitae and Ghouldom.
the Victorian era had a certain resurgence of mysticism during it which would lead many humans interested in the Occult to doors they should never open, Abyss Mysticism is just one of them. As for non Hedge Wizard mortals, it could be actual Mages as well do note, I would say that people joining an Occult society that had an Hedge Wizard Shadow Crafter in it might likely get associated by default and might even participate in rituals venerating the Abyss without having such a full understanding of it or principles behind magic to enact hedge wizardry by himself.
Mortals who would pick up Shadow Crafting are amongst other things curious occultists, people who would serve a deity whose dominion included darkness and people who had an encounter with something able to manipulate shadows to mention few possibilities. All these could come up as antagonists in a Vampire chronicle as they too are wielding greater power when it is dark, and some might even come looking for Vampires if they had any foreknowledge of them being able to wield darkness as well.

The Well of Bones

The Well of Souls

Compiled by many authors over the years, Leges Abyssi (which translates from Latin to “The Laws of the Deep”), is the most complete text on Abyss Mysticism in existence, and is a much sought after—if rarely found—piece of literature. The oldest portions of which were written by unknown authors, but some time around the middle of the 8th Century (in the year 730, if accounts are to be believed), a deranged Keeper from the Middle East consolidated and wrote extensive footnotes on what material he could find, naming his work Al Sfih. This was the book that would in time come to be known as Leges Abyssi.
Distributed among circles of Abyss mystics and Lasombra in secret trades of tremendous value for the next two hundred years. Some time circa 950 AD, a copy of Al Sfih found its way into the hands of another Abyss mystic from Constantinople named Theodorus Philetas, who translated it into Greek and had multiple copies made. Around a century later, Patriarch Micheal discovered a copy of this Greek translation and was so disturbed by its contents that he confiscated and burnt as many of the printings as he could in the year 1050, nine years before his death.
Later, in 1228, the Greek edition was translated into Latin by Olaus Wormius (who is known to have lived between the years of 1588 and 1624...), who renamed it Leges Abyssi. This particular translation is perhaps the most widely distributed of all the various editions, however it was also—comparatively—the most well-known—or, more accurately, infamous. In the Year of Our Lord, 1232, Pope Gregory IX banned both the Leges Abyssi and Al Sfih, though the mortal Church thought of these texts as more delusional rantings than anything truly heretical. By this time, the original Arabian version had all but disappeared.
This papal banning, however, did not deter Latin editions from being published and circulated in 15th century Germany and 17th century Spain, nor a Greek edition in 16th century Italy. Nor did it—supposedly—prevent a mortal John Dee from translating a copy—presumably into English—though of this copy only fragments remain and unlike other editions, it is believed to have never seen printing. The last known Greek edition, though, is believed to have been burned along with the occult library it was found in during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Finally, in the 21st century, a Lasombra ghoul named Ava Mercadante is reported by many occult scholars to have been in possession of an ancient Arabian manuscript, though she disappeared soon afterwards, along with any traces of whatever book she might have had—no one knows if this mysterious reference is actually of the long-lost original Al Sfih, or if it is even related at all.

In life known as Abdullah Alha Zrhed, the author of Al Sfih was a poet of questionable outlook from Sana'a, the capital of Yemen during the Umayyad Caliphate. His madness is undisputed among those who have heard of him; he claims to have visited fantastic cities beyond our reality and to have penetrated deep into the Underworld where he confronted unimaginable beings whose reality-shunning dreams predate time itself. Supposedly, he visited the ruins of Babylon, studied the subterranean geography of Memphis and spent an entire decade alone in the great southern “Dana,” or Crimson Desert, of Arabia—a place rumored to be home to many restless, dangerous spirits and ancient, monstrous beings—just before he settled in Damascus, where he wrote the precursor to the infamous Leges Abyssi.
Of his disappearance without a trace between the years of 731 and 738, many conflicting stories are told, though the most prominent among them is that he was attacked in his haven in broad daylight by an invisible being in front of a crowd of terrified mortal witnesses.

This dark tome is often one of the first collections in an Abyss mystic's library, but rarely does it serve to do more than inspire rather than teach. During the 27th Dynasty of Achaemenid (Persian-controlled) Egypt, when this text was first written, many of the established Abyss' Children doubted the actual truth behind the many suppositions and inferences being made by the unnamed author. Meanwhile those few beginners and pupils who came across it claimed to find incredible insights and secrets hidden within its cryptic passages.
Written as three separate chronicles of three different aspects of the Egyptian god of the primordial, watery Abyss, most view it as a sort of parable, though whether it is one relevant to a student of Abyss Mysticism has been long debated. Telling of the masculine aspects, frog-headed Nu (whose name means watery one, or abyss), and bearded Nun (inert one) with his blue-green skin and of feminine Naunet, the snake-headed woman, it can be understood why a surprising amount of Abyss mystics have ended up owing debts to a Follower of Set or two just to possess this book of ancient Egyptian gods. Settite claims that no few of them have gained greater insights into the Lasombra through understanding of the text only exacerbates the situation in addition.
Early Egyptian mortals believed that a seed of life—the Earth—was surrounded by the primordial ocean, Nun, from which it had sprung forth. This meant that he was believed to have been a truly ascendant deity, an a level with Atum, their creator-deity. Around the time of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, he became revered as the “Father of the Gods” and enjoyed elevated status among the classic Ogdoad, despite that there were temples or centers of worship dedicated to him.
Meanwhile, Nu is depicted elsewhere in the book as the one who held the sun aloft during the 12th Hour of Night (a scene also depicted in the ancient funerary text, the Book of Gates), upon which stood the scarab, Khepri, surrounded by seven other deities. Finally, Naunet appears as the wise weaver and warrior-huntress mother of the sun-god Ra, and it is told of how her husband grew to love another goddess and she stepped aside to watch over the Pharaohs instead.

The following introduction is a later addition to the Leges Abyssi, attributed to multiple unknown authors, appears only in the latest, Latin Edition (though it is believed certain sections must have been added during recent centuries).

...the Baali
Now, if you think about the Children, who are beings native to the Primordial Darkness that was before there was light (and so perhaps before there was The Creator), it comes as no surprise that the Baali are somehow connected to the Abyss. The Children that the Baali seek to placate with their atrocities seem to most closely resemble the Neverborn. Having been at times actually hinted at being them, that brings up the disturbing connection to Oblivion once more. As for the Baali perspective, the Lasombra mystics might play with the echoes of the Children's names, twisted so far as to mostly revere their dreams, but still even those echoes hold power. Each prayer of devotion sent by an Abyss mystic to bring the Darkness here and give it form and malefic sentience strengthens the Children's dreams. Yet the Baali are unsure if it “works” to keep the Children asleep, as their dreams gain power, or to awaken them, as their dreams are drawn towards reality. The Baali, you should note, have some information about both the dreams of the Children and how their own bloodline (at least, those following Moloch) seek to keep those dreams pleasant to the Children so as to not awaken them. Also of note is a Level Six Daimoinon power the Baali have access to, that breaches the walls of reality for the briefest glimpse of that which lies beyond.

...the Biblical Abyss
The Abyss of the Fallen is located somewhere within the Underworld, so that they could hear the cries of the souls lost to various Maelstroms—which would suggest that the walls are perhaps against the Tempest, meaning most likely that they are either trapped in a realm of their own, floating within the Tempest, or somewhere within the Labyrinth itself. Also, the Abyss where the Fallen are imprisoned has been stated to contain nothing but the Fallen themselves, thus making it most likely different from the Abyss that Obteneration and Abyss mystics draw from. If we continue to take the Abyss to be what is outside Existence and what was before God created light, the Fallen have, by necessity, been created after or at the time of separation of That Which Is and That Which Is Not. That is to say, they have probably had little to no contact with the Neverborn, the Children, or that which was before the first act of Creation and their being. Finding an Abyssal connection to the Demons is only compounded by the fact that the Fallen seem to have only the capability to interact with and travel to the Shadowlands and no true ability to traverse through the Umbra. In fact the Umbra seems to be outside their area of expertise, (which naturally creates a small dent in their credibility as creators of our world through their Lores). That aside, they too could possible have access to the Abyss, first through the Shadowlands and then the Neverborn and their dreams. Then again the Fallen's seeming ignorance of the greatest enemies of creation slumbering there in the center of their haven for human souls is a bit hard to explain.

...Cathayans
Kuie-Jin could possibly be aware of the Abyss, if one believes there is a connection between the Underworld and the Lasombra's Abyss, as eastern vampires have relatively easy ways to travel into the Shadowlands and beyond, in fact they can even travel to the Yang World (Umbra, or spirit plane) and go visit the Umbral Abyss Realm. If the Storyteller should determine that the Umbral Abyss Realm serves as a link to the Abyss for werewolves as well, then it would be even more believable, considering the Kuei-Jin connection to the Dark Umbra as well.
Also a thing to note is that the Kuei-Jin have been seen to learn a few new tricks through their association with Cainites, as shown by them learning new techniques to Yin Prana, allowing them to control more direct manifestations of Entropy/Oblivion, from the Nagaraja refugees in the Green Courts. Thus there is a possibility that some Cathayans could learn some Abyss-related powers from prolonged contact with Lasombra or Abyss mystics. Whether this would be a good thing or not is of course debatable, especially considering their notably closer associations with the immaterial worlds.

...Changelings
Changelings are exposed to plenty of darkness that could serve as connections to the Abyss, but nothing specific besides the Dominion of Night. Of course, we have little real knowledge of the Green Court Fomorians, except that they were powerful enough that they were not defeated by the Tuatha but decided to slumber of their own accord and for their own reasons. Thus, who knows if these monsters of primordial nightmare, or merely primordeal dreams-which-may-seem-like-nightmares to most sentient beings, are connected to the primordial beings that are the Neverborn or not? Such connection has not been claimed as fact yet, at least.
Also, there are the Black Paths of Balor, for those interested in seeing the Shadowlands for themselves, and the Green Paths of Balor for those who would visit the Abyss Realm within the Umbra. However there still remains fairly little known about the Green Court except that they exiled themselves at the end of their war with the Tuatha. Still, it's a probable association for any Changeling coming into contact with information about the Neverborn to make. Both are slumbering horrors from the time before time, wielding unimaginable power likely to cause the end of everything we know should they ever be roused to take direct action.

...Demons
The thing is, according to some demons, a Halaku Slayer, calling himself Charon (an obvious connection to the Underworld, or a simple coincidence?), created a place called “Haven” to shelter and protect human souls from the Host of Heaven. It is said to create it, he and the other Halaku had to pierce through to the void beyond Creation, which implies direct contact with unbeing (and so perhaps the Neverborn and Oblivion, but of these there is no mention). Haven is mostly portrayed as perfect but for one flaw, the barrier that separated it from the Living world left a pallor of decay over everything. Thus we have a sort of “creation-story” for the Underworld, but there is no mention of this Charon himself ever noticing these beings of uncreation, as old as the first act of creation itself, slumbering in the hearth of this Haven. Not to mention he seems to miss the fact that there is an actual gateway to Oblivion within the realm itself.
Then the Fallen lost the War in Heaven and were banished into the Abyss—with the exception of Charon, who fled deep into the Haven during the final battles of the War—and when the Fallen return in the final days, they will be horrified by what the Haven has become—the Underworld was changed drastically from each Great Maelstrom, after all, and only then will those Slayers have started to learn that there is something called the Labyrinth at the hearth of their Haven and that it is inhabited by some things unknown to Angel and Demon alike (do note that this will most likely be through proxy and information gathered from the dead, not anything any of them have actually witnessed). Yet no Slayer is willing to travel into the Labyrinth, as it lies too close to the walls of the Abyss, within which they were imprisoned, thus all they have is stories of the dead.
Naturally, as beings of great hubris, they interpret this to mean that the entities within this Labyrinth are either Fallen, or most likely Earthbound, changed further by their long residence in such a place, or perhaps they are what remains of those rebels who fled into the depths of Haven at the end of the War. But, as stated before, they still have no clue of what lies in the very heart of their "Haven." Thanks to this ignorance and the fact that it seems only Charon—if even he—knows the true lay out of the Haven, it could be believed that the Fallen had no idea of what they did as they created their Haven for souls, and that they never even noticed how beings from beyond creation rested at the very center of their realm. Keep in mind, this is not to infer that the Neverborn are demons but quite the contrary, this would actually infer that the demons never even noticed how they practically offered human souls to these beings by leading them to a realm in which those beings resided. Blinded by their own hubris and the War Against Heaven, they never noticed the true enemy at their doorstep. The only other option would be that Charon and his lieutenants knew of these beings residing within the center of Haven and either did not care, or made a pact of some sort with them. What this pact would be, considering the Neverborn wish to cast all things into Oblivion versus the Halaku's claimed goal of protecting and preserving human souls, one can only imagine. Still though, it is an unsettling thought indeed that the Halaku might have known that they had opened the door for Oblivion through their Haven, and especially so as their reasons for such an act are not readily apparent—unless it is to reap the greatest harvest by killing all that is and was ever created, and in so doing killing The Creator as well.

...the Labyrinth
The Labyrinth is the home, and sometimes the very flesh, of the Neverborn beings that are older perhaps than the Elohim or even the Creator itself. Why would a god, or the Heavenly Host itself, imprison the Fallen so close to the greatest threat to very existence itself?

...Mortals
The connection for mortals would likely be either through the “static” magic Path of Shadowcontrol, or through Lasombra vitae and ghouldom. The Victorian era saw a certain resurgence of mysticism, during which many humans interested in the Occult were led to doors they should never have even thought to open—Abyss mysticism could be just one of them. As for non-hedge wizard mortals, actual Mages, those joining an Occult society that had a hedge wizard Shadow-Crafter in it might likely get associated by default. These wizards might even participate in rituals venerating the Abyss without having a full understanding of it (or even basic principles behind magic).
Mortals who would pick up Shadow-Crafting could be of any kind, including, curious occultists, people who would serve a deity whose dominion includes darkness or people who had an encounter with something able to manipulate shadows, to mention few possibilities. All these could come up as antagonists in a Vampire Chronicle, as they too, are wielding greater power when it is dark, and some might even come looking for kindred, if they had any reason to believe in them being able to wield darkness as well.

...Mummies
Mummies have relatively easy ways to travel into the Shadowlands, the rest of the Underworld and beyond through their Necromancy and their Death Cycles. Much like the Kuei-Jin, the easiest way to link Mummies to the Abyss is through the Underworld, but do note that if facing Lasombra or other Obtenebration-wielders they may likely make the association with such powers of darkness and their own dark enemy, Apophis, almost immediately and react accordingly.

...the Neverborn
Consider the possibility that the Abyss the Lasombra tap into could be the darkness beyond existence itself, somewhere far beyond the Horizon, the barrier between the known spirit-world and the far reaches of the universe. Who truly knows what lies beyond that which is and that what is not? So the question remains what and where the Abyss does lie? It could lie within the Dreaming minds of the Neverborn, manifested within the Umbra far beyond the Horizon and anything resembling reality. The Abyss could be the darkness these unimaginably ancient and powerful beings dream of that exists beyond all that is created.
This theory has the disturbing effect of making most of the Lasombra into unwitting servants of the Neverborn's dreams and Abyss mystics would be those that take out that dreamstuff and give it a way to break through the boundaries-of-worlds and enter our realm, even if only in small manifestations. The Neverborn, as creatures of purest Oblivion, with but the slight flaw of existence stubbornly hanging on to them—for now—inflict their will through their dreams that echo through, and are, the Hive-Mind. Once a victim feels their non-existent whispers within their mind, they can do little more than fall down in worship of them and their "master" (as former people Specters tend to personify powers beyond comprehension like Oblivion). After all, existence is merely a story about the triumph of the Neverborn, as seen from the point of view of the loosing party.

...Oblivion
Oblivion is not the Abyss, nor could any Abyss mystic be able to summon shadow beings from the Abyss, for there is nothing in Oblivion, it is quite simply the End. On the other hand, much like some believe the Abyss to be, Oblivion truly might be what was before everything else and what could be again, once Oblivion swallows all that exists (as the Neverborn might well be beyond even the power of Oblivion to destroy and once all that is left is the Children and their dreams of darkness would all be as it was).
Oblivion is a force felt by each and every Spectre, as they carry it's taint with them and it offers them release from their constant agony through the peace of non-existence. This alone might cause some Spectre to start worshiping it but there is much more to it than that—though Spectral Oblivion Cults among the living show that Spectres can grant investments to their chosen priests. Also as beings of emotion—and in the case of Shades pure emotion—it becomes them to give such emotional meaning to Oblivion and it's Children, the Neverborn.

...the Ocean
Firstly, there's the Lasombra attraction to water and the sea which may give some clues to the nature of the Abyss. Perhaps it is in some way connected to the same dark places beyond from which the Churlorviasis springs, a disturbing thought indeed.

...The Well of Bones
Paragraph.

...The Well of Souls
Paragraph.

...the Umbral Abyss
The “place” known as the Abyss Realm, deep within the kindred-foreign spirit-world... ….on the other hand does, if my memory serves me correctly, have shadowy beings inhabiting it and in many ways it may be what the Discipline draws forth.

[the following was written by Agathe Ze Night] We are all
aware that there is a realm in “Umbra the Velvet Shadow”
that is obviously called the Abyss but in MtA this realm as an
other name: the Chasm (u can find it’s description in the
“Book of Worlds” p56). The fact that Nightmaster appears in
both book and that the chasm has also the way of gold, silver
and iron is imho a proof that they are one and the same.
The Chasm as presented in the Book of Worlds add the
bridge of despair, the description of 2 other paths (the Way
of Steel and the Way of Soil) and a bunch of detail
concerning the paths they share in common. It seem to me
as if the chasm is a cemetery of the memory, a place where
objects, plants, people & gods fade from memory:
• The Way of Gold leads to your own cemetery: Self-
destruction
• The Way of Silver lead to what I call the cemetery of
forgotten diety (Fae ? Could have something to do with the Kyasid)
• The Way of Iron leads to the the cemetery of
human, the low umbra through the black labyrinth of the Wyrm
• At one point there is the Bridge of Despair, which is
made of bones and causes deep depression (forbidding
anyone not able to resist it to leave the realm)
• The Way of Steel leads to, the cemetery of objects:
the lost & fond place of the umbra The Way of Soil leads to the cemetery of plants I belive the different "Way" are touching different aspect of the Umbra (like different levels of pressure within the darkness) That would make the Abyss a realm "in between" the other realm or at least "at the edge" of the other realms. The way of gold could be a lead to an Astral reach, to a reversed epiphany, to the Nihil or even (unlikely to happend) to the motherhood (see the Infinite Tapestry p93); the Way of Silver be connected to Arcadia or a least to the Arcadia gateway realm of the middle umbra; the Way of Iron to the Underworld; the Way of Steel seem close to the part of the penumbra where objects are lost, mostly in the city close to the weaver; while the way of Soil could lead close to the wild side of the penumbra... The Deep Caves share some resemblance with the description of the Null Zone. There could also be some resemblance with the Lasombra’s Abyss since it’s at the bottom of the realm and the darkness should be total, thick and heavy. The place u can observe through the widows seen in the caves is the earth seen through it’s shadows... It might be linked with the penumbra of the way of soil and the way of steel... Even though it seem easy for it’s inhabitant to leave the realm, but what really hold them in is the deep depression state felt by all his denizen which erase all will to leave... the perfect cell for infernal shades, long dead or the same: long forgotten... By the way the description of the Nether Realm (the astral Hell, aka known as the Nihil) in the “Book of Worlds”, p 35, mention that the entrance is made by “the tunnel downward”, “leading down into darkness” [this concludes Agathe's portion]

Let's just get down to it; this is the reason this book exists. Below are some of the ways in which Abyss Mysticism can be introduced to a Chronicle or Story. Keep in mind that if the Storyteller so chooses, all of these scenarios could happen, but it still doesn't mean that Abyss Mysticism becomes available to the players. As much as we've provided here, and as many ways that we've shown that Obtenebrous blood magic doesn't necessarily have to be handled with the kid gloves like may be one's instinct, still, final decision on whether a player's character has access to Abyss Mysticism lies with the Storyteller. On the other hand, the following examples of ways to bring Abyss Mysticism into a Chronicle are a decent way for players—Lasombra or not—to learn the power themselves, if allowed. ...Something the reader is—hopefully—interested in because they're reading these words right now, unless they're reading it out of just pure, perverse curiosity.

The Abandoned Library
One way for a Storyteller to add Abyss Mysticism to their chronicle could be by having the player's characters discover an abandoned haven from which the owner had to flee, leaving the players with an occult library or scrolls containing knowledge of Abyss Mysticism. According to the section on occult abilities in Lasombra Clanbook Revised, p. 63, this was a common way for non-Lasombra to learn the secret practices of Abyssal blood magic in centuries past. Modern Lasombra, however, guard their secrets more carefully—but what about the non-Lasombra who themselves stumbled upon such a discovery. Though they may hoard the secret to themselves, one can be sure they don't necessarily guard it as carefully as they do clan secrets. ...And then there must be moments that the Abyss mystics of the Lasombra actually make a mistake and do let some of their precious lore be lost.
As a quick example, think about the Anarch Revolt—how many defeated Lasombra Elders had their libraries discovered, and how many of them could have been Abyss mystics? (We're sure any Storyteller can justify at least one.) How many boons were promised to non-Lasombra for helping defeating these sadistic Elders, and what could the possible stipulations of these boons be? (“You can have the Methuselah, yes—and his blood, yes! Yes, for the last time, all I want is that one book in his library and the rest is yours....”)

Ally of the Clan of Shadows
The same page also brings up the topic of Lasombra teaching Abyss Mysticism to non-Lasombra as a boon. Surely this must be very rare and only done when someone has helped the Clan greatly. However consider this: final decision on the matter seems to lie with the infamous Friends of the Night (perhaps because there is no form of leadership or organization among the mystics themselves, perhaps not)—who's to say which of the kindred among the Friends can be bribed or threatened and who can't? The Storyteller, that's who.

Ancient Darkness
Man has always feared the darkness and in deference has often named deities after this fearful element in their lives. Ahriman, Nyx, Erebus, Ereshkigal, Nótt, Höðr, Kuk, Apophis, Sutekh, Tchernabog; these are but a few names attributed to deities related to the Night and/or Darkness. The rise of Christianity and Islam has all but obliterated the faiths that these deities were part of, knowledge of them, however, yet remains.
Were these entities somehow related to the Abyss? If so how? Mystics of a particularly scholarly persuasion might be lured into investigating these ancient faiths, if only to pick up any scraps of relevant knowledge relating to the Abyss. Some may do it for power, others merely to know what the truth is. Regardless of their beliefs or dreams, the truth may be out there... or it may not be.

A Dark Puzzle
Perhaps the characters were given a test, or maybe they uncovered a dark legend on they're own, but now the coterie or pack find themselves on a world-wide journey to visit all Abyss related locations—knowingly or not. What will be the “treasure” at the end of the journey, and why did they find it? If it's fate or destiny, are they unwitting saviors or clueless dupes, or something in between?
What locations do the characters visit? We actually offer suggestions on some canon and non-canon Abyssal locations further on in this chapter, but what other places could hold a special significance to darkness or the Abyss?

Infernal Associations
Considering the power one can gain through the study of the Abyss, one might wonder what business a Mystic would have associating with the demons of Hell. An answer of course is knowledge and power. Years of fruitless study may tempt a scholarly Mystic to seek fast answers from some of the oldest entities in existence. Those who feel they are being held back from real power, or perhaps who are too incompetent or weak to be trusted with such Abyssal secrets may opt to seek Abyssal power at a faster rate from Infernal sources. The question as always is what will the price will be?

Running Blind
The characters are on the run—literally. Maybe they stole the secrets of an Abyss mystic, perhaps one or all of them are mystics themselves and the Friends of the Night have labeled them traitors to clan and/or organization, maybe they just earned the ire of others while retrieving stolen secrets. Whatever the case they're on the run and dark and terrifyingly persistent kindred (or what may at first have been assumed to be vampires) want them dead. Alternatively, the players' characters could be chasing someone on the run for similar reasons outlined above.

Stolen Secrets
Either through extensive research or personal contact it comes to the attention of the player's Sabbat Pack, that some of the secrets of the Abyss lay in the hands of less-then-savory characters. Precious knowledge now lies within the hands of the Setites, the Tremere or even the dread Baali, and any Lasombra in the group might even be feeling vengeful. How can they get it back? Can they steal it? Can they take it by force? Barter for it? And if so, are they willing to pay the price? Even worse, is the information they are retrieving even genuine? Finally, what repercussions will there be if they fail... or succeed?
Alternatively, perhaps the players' characters may wish to steal secrets from another source to enhance their own knowledge. How far are they willing to go to achieve this?

A Traitor Amongst Us
Best used with an actual group of Mystics: there is a traitor amongst the players' characters. The traitor may be selling secrets, unwisely associated with undesirable individuals, or even plotting a Coup-d'état for their own benefit within the particular organization. Whatever the reason they must be found and stopped. The only question is who is it? Who is beyond reproach and who isn’t? What will be the fallout if they’re not found and if they are?

The connection between the Abyss and Wraiths and
Necromancy (two ideas: studying and dealing with Wraiths
for Abyssal Knowledge, especially seeking information on the
Tempest. And the same with Necromancers)
The connection between Abyss Mysticism and Science.
Abyssal Science? The deep space as a place of darkness and
voidness akin to the Abyss. Maybe the Abyss *is* the deepest
reaches space far way from any stars and their light?
Seeking mortals worshiping the Abyss or practicing some
mortal shadow magic
Kindred (or any supernatural species) of the East and some
Yin-related powers which usually manifest as shadow-like
spiritual stuff.
There's probably some more ideas to throw around which
might not need a full write-up...

Physical

Eyes of the Abyss (1 Point Flaw)
Your eyes have completely blackened from your exposure to the Abyss, be it through too much travel through it physically or from dark understanding gained from knowledge. The sight of your eyes can be unsettling, especially to mortals, though this can be easily remedied with sunglasses or even a hat or long hair. For situations in which the character's eyes are noticed (another character succeeds on a Perception + Alertness roll at Difficulty , she gains a +1 Difficulty on all friendly Social rolls involving those individuals.

Unblinking Vigil (1 Point Flaw)
(Players Guide to High Clans pg. 203)
Your eyes do not close—ever. Perhaps you stared too deeply into the Abyss or fleshcrafted away your eyelids for better alertness. Your quirk probably makes astute observers uncomfortable (+1 to the difficulty of friendly social interactions with anyone whose player makes a successful Perception + Alertness roll at difficulty 8 to notice).

Darksight/Night Sight (2 Point Merit)
(Player's Guide to High Clans, p. 207/Clanbook: Lasombra, 1st/2nd Edition, p. 64)
As a Merit, Darksight allows the vampire to willingly invert light and dark in their vision, allowing perfect clarity of vision wherever there is less light, and obscuring vision wherever there is light. Colors are also inverted, causing a surreal effect, but many mystics adjust to this rather quickly, although the complete lack of sunlight can blind, even burn, the user, just as too much illumination is harmful to the eyes.

Darksight/Uncontrollable Night Sight
(2 Point Flaw)
(Player's Guide to High Clans, p. 207/Clanbook: Lasombra, 1st/2nd Edition, p. 64)
As a Flaw, the change in one's vision gained from the Merit above becomes permanent; the character will never again view colors as others do, and in order to describe colors accurately, they will have to remember and translate the hues they see.

Mental

Nightmares (1 Point Flaw)
(V20, p. 485)
You experience horrendous nightmares (daymares?) every time you sleep, and memories of them haunt you during your
waking hours. Sometimes the nightmares are so bad they cause you to lose one die on all your actions for the next night (Storyteller's discretion). Some of the nightmares may be so intense that you mistake them for reality. A crafty Storyteller will be quick to take advantage of this.

Driving Goal (3 Point Flaw)
(Vampire Player's Guide, p. 35 ; Vampire Players Guide, 2nd Edition, p. 8; Vampire: The Dark Ages, p. 279)
You have a personal goal, which sometimes compels and directs you in startling ways. The goal is always limitless in depth, and you can never truly achieve it: it could be to eradicate the Sabbat or achieve Golconda. Because you must work toward your goal throughout the chronicle (though you can avoid it for short periods by spending Willpower), it will get you into trouble and may jeopardize other actions. Choose your driving goal carefully, as it will direct and focus everything your character does.

Social

Enemy

Pariah/outcast/untrusted/etc.

Dark Secret

Supernatural

Arcane (1-5 Point Merit)
(Player's Guide to High Clans, p. 207-208)
You are mystically unknowable, lurking at the edge of notice by others and preternaturally receding into the shadows of memory when gone. Those who do see you seldom care to remember so; this is supernatural anonymity, however, and not invisibility, thus this Merit grants no bonus to Stealth rolls or attempts to actively hide from notice.
For every point invested in this Merit, subtract one die from
any dice pool (typically Perception and/or Investigation) used
to actively search for the character. At the Storyteller's discretion, characters with Fame, Influence or Status may not
purchase Arcane or vice versa, and it may also prove a detriment to other Background—mentors may well lose interest in an Arcane pupil, for example. This Merit is less common in the Modern Nights, whether it be due to surveillance technology or the lack of a desire to be forgotten by the power-hungry members of the Clans and Sects these nights. Much like in the Dark Ages when signs of this supernatural quality first were recorded, a Gangrel, True Brujah or other secretive Bloodline will most likely display signs of Arcane before your average Lasombra, Ventrue or even Follower of Set (what kind of pusher lets their clients forget about them?).

Animate Shadow (3 Point Flaw)
(Player's Guide to High Clans, p. 208)
The character's shadow becomes energized with a seeming life of its own, mock-feeding on the shadows of others, or enlarging or gaining fearsome features as one's Frenzy approaches. The character suffers -2 dice to all Social rolls with Lasombra who know of her affliction, and they say that many non-Lasombra who manifest this Flaw end up disappearing, perhaps swallowed by their own Abyssal shadows.

Enmity of Shadows (4 Point Flaw)
(Clanbook: Lasombra, 1st/2nd Edition, p. 34)
Some unfortunate vampires with Obtenebration, or practitioners of Abyss Mysticism, are afflicted with—or develop—this ironic Flaw. The shadows (and other Abyssal beings) that the Cainite summons have a tendency to turn on
them and attack them as well. Each time the vampire uses an Obtenebration power of level 3 or higher, or any Abyss Mysticism ritual of any level, they must also make a Willpower roll (Difficulty 6). Success indicates that the power functions as normal with no complications, while failure means the summoned shadows attack their would-be master.
Some Abyssal philosophers claim that this Flaw is a sign of having done something to anger the unfathomable Abyss, perhaps by denying it something it intended to devour. Other, more optimistic kindred believe it is a sign that the power within the Abyss finds them highly desirable, and wishes to accept them into itself. Regardless of speculations, few kindred envy the Cainite afflicted with this Flaw.

Harbinger of the Abyss (5 Point Flaw)
(Player's Guide to High Clans, p. 209)
A vampire with this Flaw is a conduit of Abyssal energies, dimming lights and extinguishing flames in your presence, as
well as having the deathly chill of the void in your touch. The character must roll their Obtenebration rating against the Soak score of any mundane flame within six feet (two yards) of them, and this power cannot be willingly turned off.
There is one benefit however: the character receives -3 to all Intimidation rolls, to a minimum of 4, as true darkness has a way of bringing out anyone's fears.

Kiss of the Void (4 Point Flaw)
(V20, p. 495; Dark Ages: Vampire, p. 309)
There is no pleasure in the character's Kiss as they feed upon kine and others, only pain and emptiness. This is not technically a Cainite's usual Grip of the Damned, although the two are mechanically identical. With this Flaw though, it is because the Abyss itself has stolen this pleasure from the mortals upon whom the kindred drinks. These victims scream and struggle to escape the agony and must be restrained the entire feeding or otherwise subdued. Any Lasombra or Abyss mystic who actually still retains Humanity, especially at higher levels, will often have an emotionally difficult time with this as well, and may very well be required to make Humanity rolls.

Light-Sensitive (5 Point Flaw)
(Vampire Player's Guide, p. 41 ; Vampire Players Guide, 2nd Edition, p. 15)
You are even more sensitive to sunlight than other vampires are. Sunlight causes double normal damage, and even moonlight (which is, after all, the reflected light of the sun) harms you. Indeed, even bright lights can be painful to your eyes, but that pain can be mitigated by wearing sunglasses, furthermore, when the moon is shining the light it casts will cause wounds in the same way sunlight does for normal kindred. However, these wounds are not aggravated, and can
be healed normally.

* Face is now completely incapable of expressing any type of feelings
* Voice changes into a terrifying sound that gives the listener cold chills
* Skin goes so pale that the blood in the cainites body shines through as thick dark threads
* The cainites blood is no longer dark red but instead completely pitch black.

Examples of changed personality:
* The cainite often drifts away into strange thoughts staring into nothingness (such as the dark night sky, the far stretched
water surface, or the dark corner of the room) as he is either fascinated or scared of it.
* The cainite is more and more addicted to visit the Abyss. If his willpower fails him maybe he will be trapped there forever
by his "free will".
* The cainite doesn't wanna be in the presence of any light anymore and therefore he even avoids rooms that are being lid up by simple light-bulbs. He can ofc be in these type of surroundings but it's very uncomfortable and stressful for him which certainly will impact his social skills or ability to think straight.

Examples of Auspex related changes:
These examples are things that players with "high" Auspex can notice about the Abyss Mystic.
* In the Abyss Mystics surroundings there are always humanoid-like shadowforms lurking around.
* The eyes of the Abyss Mystic is like bottomless black maelstroms that almost makes the viewer feel as she is dragged into the eternal darkness.
* If the viewer is reading the Abyss Mystics thoughts she also hears the dark thoughts of several other "creatures" that hides
in there somewhere.

The Congo
The night is never calm in the heart of darkness. With more than a thousand deaths each night the region is a chaotic warzone where murder, rape and torture is the norm. The humanity is lost and old forbidden practices like cannibalism has again started to rise among the people. With its mortals acting like savages one can hardly imagine how cruel and callous the region's Laibon inhabitants would be. Yet history tells us that the bloodthirsty monsters that haunts these nights are nothing compared to the Shadow Kings and Queens who once ruled here. In the heart of darkness there is always a bigger fish. Luckily the worst had to swim elsewhere. Many would argue that - on a spiritual level - there's nothing strange with Congo's landscape, but the ones that know where to look wouldn't agree. The echoes of the past speaks about an act so grotesque and abnormal that it would forever leave the fallen kingdom scarred and tainted. There are many areas, widespread across the land, that seems to be more affected than others. Some Laibon lore keepers point out these sites as the former Xi Dundu domains, the birthplaces of the horrible and profane curse that was put upon the land. While the scriptures and artifacts of most of these places has been plundered and spread out across the Ebony Kingdom there may still exist a few sites that remains hidden and intact. The sites can differ in appearance, depending how each Xi Dundu tribe lived. Some are now abandoned ghost towns where the rotten wooden houses are falling apart, inhabited only by the infesting spiders and the shadows of the past. Others are dead nature reserves, where no longer trees and vegetation grows, and no other bird than the dreadful vulture sings. There are even parts of the jungle where it's said that all of the trees has not only died but also ceased to cast shadows. Vehicles and electronic equipment starts to break down as soon as they approach these tainted places and animals as well as humans gets overwhelmed by unexplained feeling of terror and fear. The few roads that are connected to these places haven't seen a traveler on them for years. It's common sense to stay away. This is one of the few things that everyone from the military to the small jungle tribes agree on. Most Laibon too, claiming that the devil walks there at night. Like always there are a few lunatics who instead feels drawn to places like these, claiming them as their home for different reasons. Rumors says that Baron Maurice Leraux, a promising Ventrue explorer now lost to the madness of Beast, hides somewhere in the ruins of a former Xi Dundu temple in the north, close to the Sudanese border. And one of the sites in the south is now known
to be the bastion from where the savage Nagloper warlord Thierry Mbisala sends out his packs of monstrous headhunters. It is told that the few vampires who has visited the sites to view its past through various supernatural means only saw darkness followed by terrible screams of agony. A not very revealing vision but supposedly terrible enough to
drive the weak-minded mad. Maybe that's why the regional Magaji decided this to be a matter better left alone and why no one argued otherwise.

The Dark Magister
Deeply initiated occultists, most demonologists, some Abyss
Mystics and all Infernalists know about the gruesome
practices of the Baali, including their construction of pits
filled with the remains from eviscerated victims to serve the
purpose of various profane rites. Some of these pits became
the stuff of legend. Even mortals had a glimpse of such
horrors, when excavations near and in Carthage revealed the
remains of infants and children in large numbers conscripted
to a fiery pit. Other examples of these infamous abattoirs
remain thankfully hidden from mortal eyes, including the
Ashurite Well which reportedly was the cradle of the
bloodline, hidden beneath the ruins of Ashur, and the Iblii-
al-Akbar, beneath ancient Damascus. All of these are of potential interest to Abyss Mystics, because of these places’s
connection to spiritual darkness and sinister mystical
resonances.
But one pit has marked the story of both Lasombra and
Baali, inspiring dread and an unholy curiosity, its infamy and
importance second only to the ruins of Chorazin. This pit is
the so-called “Hell’s Mouth” aboard the Dark Magister. By the end of the vampiric Long Night the Dark Magister was known to be a Moorish pirate ship, its hold filled with two centuries’ worth of victims and booty, manned by a crew of Baali and infernal Lasombra corsairs. The Dark Magister stalked the Mediterranean coast, and the most common rumors had the ship’s home port being somewhere along the North African coast, possibly near Tripoli – once a Phoenician colony. During the War of Princes, the Dark Magister was also known to spend a great deal of time ferrying individuals and correspondences among Infernalists in the coast of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, linking the accursed Baali cities of Tyre and Damascus. It is even rumored to have sheltered the infamous Mary the Black after she devoured the Patriarch of Constantinople, safely delivering her at the hands of Tanith in Tyre.
Some of those in the know speculate that the Dark Magister
might have been even older than its medieval incarnation.
Stories about a hellish vessel haunting the Mediterranean
exist since the nights of Carthage, which was a powerful
maritime power. If this is true, the alliance between Lasombra and Baali seafarers might be extremely old. Worse
still is the evidence that the Dark Magister continued its
notorious pirate and infernal practices long after the Dark
Ages. Rumors about its whereabouts and activities remain
silent during the Inquisition and Anarch Revolt, but once
the Age of Discovery rekindled sea travel, the Dark Magister is said to have returned. No more restricted to the Mediterranean, it took open sea and haunted the seven
oceans. Others say there is not one Dark Magister, but several. This theory is grounded on evidence that the Moorish ship was cursed by Assamite Sorcerers of Andalusia to never leave the Mediterranean waters. But it is said its infernal crew found a loophole by simply transferring the Hell Mouth to a new vessel. It is true that during the Great Navigations the Dark Magister preying on New World colonies was a caravel. Later, during the golden age of piracy, it was a pirate frigate tinting the Caribbean waters with blood. Nowadays, several ghost ships that could possibly be the Dark Magister haunt all of the world’s oceans with its metal hulls harboring death, darkness and decay inside.
Some Tzimisce Kolduns whisper that Infernal tainted Fiends were the responsible for the Hell Mouth’s transfer from the Mediterranean-bound Moorish ship to its other vessel hosts. These same rumors say that Vicissitude enabled the pit, full of organs and viscera, to be partially transferred instead of whole, actually creating new Hell Mouths through a process similar to parthenogenesis and mitosis. These rumors are substantiated by the fact that the Dark Magister of the Sargasso Sea was crewed by crustacean-like buccaneers and employed abominable sea monstrosities that could only have been flesh-crafted – a terrible sight, especially when coupled with the strangest Rituals of Darkness any Abyss Mystic has ever heard of, employed by the Lasombra Capitan of the frigate. On the other hand, the metallic Dark Magister of modern times was never reported to have flesh-crafted monsters, but its association with the practice of Abyss Mysticism is well- documented. That there is more than one has been implied by different sighting at the same time. These modern Dark Magister show evidence of being less powerful than their older counterparts, and at least one has been destroyed. No one has been able to explain why there are differences of vessel and crew between the many incarnations of the Dark Magister, and perhaps they are not merely continuations one of the other, but were all inspired by their predecessors. Thus, it might simply be that different captains have different tastes and inclinations on how to control the powers of darkness and express their evil. This is a dark prospect, because it is possible that there are not only several of these hellish vessels in the world, but that the older ones – perhaps even the original Carthaginian ship – are still in existence.

Laguna de la Sombra
Located deep within Argentina's wilderness and an uncomfortable distance from nearest village, a visitor can
easily feel intimidated and vulnerable as they walk along the
lake known as Laguna de la Sombra, the Lake of the Shadow,
especially after midnight. Even moreso when they realize
that the neither the moon nor the stars are reflected in the
dark water's surface. During the time of the moon, when the
lake and the land surrounding it are covered in shadow, the
barrier between this world and a far darker one is greatly
weakened. For the most part the nights remain as quiet as
the day, while others are not quite that pleasant. On those
dreadful nights the area is haunted by terrible spirits of the
night and other shades who dances in the thick mist of the
lake, crying painful songs of agony that can only be silenced
by the command of the Master of the Lake.
Kept within a fenced area in the southern parts of the
surrounding woods, an old, wooden cabin stands alone and,
by the looks of it, deserted. Once inside though, a huge
collection of books, journals and telegrams could tell a tragic
story for the observer with enough intuition to put the puzzle
together. With the puzzle solved, each bit would help to elaborate a dark story about a vendetta between two large,
local families: the Ramos and the Vargas.
Once upon a time both families lived on each side of the
lake as good, friendly neighbors. Then, the lake’s water was
of bright cyan and the surrounding landscape was a tropical
dream full of colors and fertile earth; both families made a
small fortune supplying the freshest fruits and vegetables to
the nearby villages and there were never any feelings of
competition between them. Life was good until one tragic
evening when Ewa—youngest daughter of the Ramos family—
drowned in the lake, a terrible accident that had happened
when she had gone for an evening swim with her romantic
interest Juan—oldest of the Vargas sons. He lost track of her
in the darkness and it wasn’t until he found her floating,
dead body that he understood the seriousness of the situation.
Failing to report what had happened to Ewa, he was blamed
for her death by the Ramos; and so the feud came to be. To
revenge his youngest daughter, Marco, head of the Ramos
family, lured Juan out in the woods were he brutally
murdered him with a shovel. The Vargas later responded
with a machete embedded in Marco’s skull. The following
years consisted of full-on war between the two families,
making the lake and the land around it a battlefield. The
battle didn't stop either, until all that remained of the
families were its youngest children. Fire had killed all
vegetation and blood had colored the water dark as the night.
The children's handwriting is hard to decipher but they tell
of a horrible creature awakening in that darkness, offering its
services to whoever that could supply it with the right
knowledge. None of the children had it in them to kill, yet
they still carried the hatred of killers within them, and they
all accepted the creature's challenge, wishing to call upon it
to demolish whatever was left of their enemies.
And so they all went out in the world to seek after "the right
knowledge." How long the children were gone is unknown,
but it is known that one of them came back with what the
creature wanted. So dark was the knowledge the child
carried that their eyes and thoughts had been colored black.
The creature honored the agreement and wiped out what was
left of the other family's offspring, then blessed the child with
a spell that would forever protect them from the faith of its
family.
If the—unwelcomed—visitor yo this cursed place wishes to
seek proof of this story, they eventually will; digging deep
enough into the dead soil one can find dozens of skeletons
laying around, as well as the remains of a burned-down cabin
on the other side of the lake. If there is time, they might
even find one of the many hidden cellars around the area,
filled with books and scrolls containing arcane knowledge
about a strange, inhuman magic called Abyssal Sorcery.
Upon doing so, however, the visitor had better pray to God
that the Master of the Lake should not return soon from
whatever dark corners of the world it deigns to travel to—God
has left this place a long time ago, though and the Master of
the Lake, some even call it the Avatar of the Abyss, is not
merciful when it comes to intruders.

Mexico City, Mexico
(Mexico City by Night)
Mexico City is the dark heart of the Sabbat, a bastard city,
born in blood and gore, taking its first breaths to the carnage
of the Aztec sacrifices, but growing to one of the biggest cities
of the world—and in the sharp claws of the Sabbat. A place
of power and darkness, it is no small wonder that Mexico
City houses more Abyss mystics than any other place on the
surface of the earth. Abyss Mysticism has always been the
way of this city, however; each Sabbat mystic is walking in the
shadow of those that came before them, and blood and
darkness were as prevalent then as they are now.
The New World had it's old gods; it is said that when the
Lasombra first arrived to Latin America, following in the
wake of human conquistadors, even they were horrified by
the darkness that was resting in the heart of the Aztec
empire. The Aztecs called the being Tezcatlipoca, or
“Smoking Mirror,” and launched grand sacrifices, orgies and
bloody feasts to appease their God of Night—the central
temple in Tenochtitlan, present day Mexico City, was soaked
in blood and gore. Within the temple, human sacrifices
hung from crafted shadows, in a darkness that apparently
could allow Tezcatlipoca to ignore the sun's power over him.
Doors and various artifacts summoned entirely from the
Abyss shielded the god from the outside world, and it was
rare for even the Aztec priests to enter.
Opinions differed in the nature of the god. The Lasombra
suspected it was one of them, an ancient from before the
great Revolt—and thus an enemy, but local sources instead
claimed that the god in fact was the cast-off reflection of a
creature of such power that even its shadow continued its
games of blood and power. The God of Night apparently
had the power to control other's uses of Obtenebration and
even blot out the sun. During the 1691 eclipse, all Lasombra
Cainites within Mexico City awoke during the day, as they
were attacked with impaling shots of shadow and darkness.
Those who survived the assault bled a liquid of pure shadows
from their wounds for several nights—which in fact led to the
god's demise at the hands of the Tremere antitribu.
Now, in the Final Nights, with the utter annihilation of the
House of Goratrix and their chantries less guarded, the God
of Night has reappeared. A small clay urn, with runes and
seals of protection carved upon it together with the name
Tezcatlipca, is rumored to be in the hands of a Cainite looter.
Several Abyss mystics now search for this grave-robber and
the urn—as if it were the Holy Grail itself.
As for the temple of the would-be-god, no Cainite of the appropriate age seems to remember what happened to it.
The prevailing opinion seems to be that it was torn down by
the conquistadors, but, as the Cardinals of the Sabbat meet
in a pyramid temple of a forgotten deity buried beneath the
ground, some of them can't help but wonder.

Monçada's Lair
(Clan Novel: Assamite, Book 1; Clan Novel: Lasombra
Trilogy, Sacrifices; Encyclopaedia Vampirica; Dark Ages
Europe)
Madrid, the capitol city of Spain, has held the cancerous
affection of the Sabbat for centuries. And no cainite is more
strongly associated with the dark metropolis than the
Lasombra's own Ambrosio Luis Monçada. Nestled within
the depths of the city, the haven of the Archbishop was the
base upon which the Sabbat rested. A solitary creature, it
was a rare honor to be invited into the Archbishop's most
sacred haven, but Monçada never the less let his touch be felt
through the winding maze of city streets—and beyond.
The haven itself is buried a few hundred feet below ground,
with half a dozen entrances and exits craftily hidden
throughout the city's core, most of which were known only to
the Archbishop and his staff. A famous hotel and the great
opera house hold one passage each, as do a few of the lesser
churches and Santa María la Real de La Almudena, one of the great cathedrals.
One passageway, though, used by those summoned by
Monçada, is hidden within the Church of San Nicolás de los
Servitas; this transformed, ancient Moorish Mosque was a
great prize for a believer such as the Archbishop. The
stairways into the catacombs are hidden in one of the
confessional booths, the third from the end, and required
one of the priests to open it. Being the conventional
entrance, this one was the most heavily guarded by the
Archbishop's Shadow Legionaries. One of the most secret
entrances—the Black Portal, hidden within a small orchard—
held no mortal or vampire guards at all. Centuries ago
Monçada summoned forth an Abyssal creature of such power
it was to become known as the Leviathan, and he bound it to
guard those corridors.
To reach the inner sanctum one would still have to navigate
through labyrinthine catacombs, draped in a darkness from
beyond this world. Every wall, floor, and even the dark air
itself reeks of the Archbishop's will, Abyssal powers and dark
faith—Monçada and his church were one.
Some chambers and corridors hold icons of holy martyrs,
statues and carvings twisted by the dark faith of the place,
others, nothing but iron gates or torches burning without
light. The core of the lair holds a chapel, an occult library, a
scriptorium, bathing chamber and various studies and
laboratories—all rooms once sparsely furnished but now lying
in ruins. With the Final Death of Monçada in 1999 at the
hands of assassins, the earth trembled and gave way; the
Leviathan was banished back to the Abyss from where it was
spawned, and with the two great powers of this cursed place
gone, the foundations of the haven itself collapsed.
With Monçada gone, Madrid fell to the brutal infighting so
typical of the Sabbat. During these violent times countless
relics, artifacts and Abyssal scriptures disappeared at the
hands of looters. The lair itself still stands, but with whole
areas buried beneath stone and rubble—secrets, probably
those best left buried, may still be hidden somewhere within
the shadowy ruins.

Castel d'Ombro
The Dark Monastery
Zadkiel's Well & Caridad's Garden
The Falcon Maasai tribe's area in northern Tanzania.

Abyss-Related Occult Literature

Leges Abyssi
Compiled by many authors over the years, Leges Abyssi (which translates from Latin to “The Laws of the Deep”), is the most complete text on Abyss Mysticism in existence, and is a much sought after—if rarely found—piece of literature. The oldest portions of which were written by unknown authors, but some time around the middle of the 8th Century (in the year 730, if accounts are to be believed), a deranged Keeper from the Middle East consolidated and wrote extensive footnotes on what material he could find, naming his work Al Sfih. This was the book that would in time come to be known as Leges Abyssi.
Distributed among circles of Abyss mystics and Lasombra in secret trades of tremendous value for the next two hundred years. Some time circa 950 AD, a copy of Al Sfih found its way into the hands of another Abyss mystic from Constantinople named Theodorus Philetas, who translated it into Greek and had multiple copies made. Around a century later, Patriarch Micheal discovered a copy of this Greek translation and was so disturbed by its contents that he confiscated and burnt as many of the printings as he could in the year 1050, nine years before his death. Later, in 1228, the Greek edition was translated into Latin by Olaus Wormius (who is known to have lived between the years of 1588 and 1624...), who renamed it Leges Abyssi. This particular translation is perhaps the most widely distributed of all the various editions, however it was also—comparatively —the most well-known—or, more accurately, infamous. In the Year of Our Lord, 1232, Pope Gregory IX banned both the Leges Abyssi and Al Sfih, though the mortal Church thought of these texts as more delusional rantings than anything truly heretical. By this time, the original Arabian version had all but disappeared.
This papal banning, however, did not deter Latin editions from being published and circulated in 15 th century Germany and 17th century Spain, nor a Greek edition in 16 th century Italy. Nor did it—supposedly—prevent a mortal John Dee from translating a copy—presumably into English—though of this copy only fragments remain and unlike other editions, it is believed to have never seen printing. The last known Greek edition, though, is believed to have been burned along with the occult library it was found in during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Finally, in the 21st century, a Lasombra ghoul named Ava Mercadante is reported by many occult scholars to have been in possession of an ancient Arabian manuscript, though she disappeared soon afterwards, along with any traces of whatever book she might have had—no one knows if this mysterious reference is actually of the long-lost original Al Sfih, or if it is even related at all.

SIDEBAR - The Author of Al Sfih
In life known as Abdullah Alha Zrhed, the author of Al Sfih was a poet of questionable outlook from Sana'a, the capital of Yemen during the Umayyad Caliphate. His madness is undisputed among those who have heard of him; he claims to have visited fantastic cities beyond our reality and to have penetrated deep into the Underworld where he confronted unimaginable beings whose reality-shunning dreams predate time itself. Supposedly, he visited the ruins of Babylon, studied the subterranean geography of Memphis and spent an entire decade alone in the great southern “Dana,” or Crimson Desert, of Arabia—a place rumored to be home to many restless, dangerous spirits and ancient, monstrous beings—just before he settled in Damascus, where he wrote the precursor to the infamous Leges Abyssi.
Of his disappearance without a trace between the years of 731 and 738, many conflicting stories are told, though the most prominent among them is that he was attacked in his haven in broad daylight by an invisible being in front of a crowd of terrified mortal witnesses.

The Testament of Nu
This dark tome is often one of the first collections in an Abyss mystic's library, but rarely does it serve to do more than inspire rather than teach. During the 27th Dynasty of Achaemenid (Persian-controlled) Egypt, when this text was first written, many of the established Abyss' Children doubted the actual truth behind the many suppositions and inferences being made by the unnamed author. Meanwhile those few beginners and pupils who came across it claimed to find incredible insights and secrets hidden within its cryptic passages.
Written as three separate chronicles of three different aspects of the Egyptian god of the primordial, watery Abyss, most view it as a sort of parable, though whether it is one relevant to a student of Abyss Mysticism has been long debated. Telling of the masculine aspects, frog-headed Nu (whose name means watery one, or abyss), and bearded Nun (inert one) with his blue-green skin and of feminine Naunet, the snake-headed woman, it can be understood why a surprising amount of Abyss mystics have ended up owing debts to a Follower of Set or two just to possess this book of ancient Egyptian gods. Settite claims that no few of them have gained greater insights into the Lasombra through understanding of the text only exacerbates the situation in addition.
Early Egyptian mortals believed that a seed of life—the Earth—was surrounded by the primordial ocean, Nun, from which it had sprung forth. This meant that he was believed to have been a truly ascendant deity, an a level with Atum, their creator-deity. Around the time of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, he became revered as the “Father of the Gods” and enjoyed elevated status among the classic Ogdoad, despite that there were temples or centers of worship dedicated to him.
Meanwhile, Nu is depicted elsewhere in the book as the one who held the sun aloft during the 12th Hour of Night (a scene also depicted in the ancient funerary text, the Book of Gates), upon which stood the scarab, Khepri, surrounded by seven other deities. Finally, Naunet appears as the wise weaver and warrior-huntress mother of the sun-god Ra, and it is told of how her husband grew to love another goddess and she stepped aside to watch over the Pharaohs instead.

I Nomi di Ombre e Ombre
(Italian, The Names of Shades and Shadows)

The Gospel of Laodice
(Road of Heaven)
The Gospel of Laodice is a theological counterpart to the Book of Nod. It was a widely spread text among followers of the Path of Heaven during the vampiric Long Night in Europe and its successor, the War of Princes. And in this it was different from the Book of Nod, which is rarely seen even if often quoted. At those times translations of the Gospel were available to most Faithful, as the followers of Heaven were known. I suppose even among the sect of Islamic Faithful, the Ashirra, it was well known.
The Gospel is indeed a retelling of the origins of the world, the story of Caine and that of his descendants, called in the text Noddists (differently from followers of the Path of Caine, more akin to how the Sabbat nowadays call vampires Cainites). This retelling has its focus on the notion of the threefold darkness. This would be the thrice auspice of darkness upon any Cainite: once from a primeval darkness from which the earth arose, secondly, the darkness of the womb were humanity is gestated, and thirdly, the darkness of eternal night that comes with the Embrace. Thus it is similar to the idea of Cainites as twice born, once to their mortal mothers and once to their immortal Sires. (Some among Sabbat have even taken this a step further and consider all Sabbat thrice born; a third time through the Creation Rites that officially makes a common vampire True Sabbat).
However, what is interesting about the Gospel of Laodice is that it served as the basis for an ancient vampire religious movement that looked for answers to life’s hardships on the belief of a god, good and omnipotent, which preordained the Embrace to all individuals in order to punish them for their sins. Throughout history, this belief has associated this god with the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Gods, and regarded in turn each of these deities as the one entity Caine worshipped before he was made a vampire. Thus, it has also inspired a moral code with strong parallels on mortal’s beliefs.
It is hard to treat this religious movement objectively, because it has influenced much of our thinking about our condition. A branch of the Path of Heaven became the Sabbat when it realized mortal morality meant nothing, and that if somehow a higher power intended for some to become immortal predators, then they should not deny their rightful ordained place and must embrace their instincts and nature. It was only human influence that was holding back vampires from their true heritage.
Thus, understanding how mortal religions have influenced Cainites is important, even if nearly impossible to accomplish. There are almost no records of how long a similar credo to the Path of Heaven might have existed among Judaism. We know that the Roman Empire adopting Christianity as its state religion bolstered a fringe group to the status of the most powerful group of vampires in Europe, what would be the Christian Path of Heaven. At around the same time a wretched and mad Antediluvian adopted the religion, and its madness only became worse once confounded by many Christian heresies, which thankfully led to its own demise. The Ashirra are essentially the Islamic Path of Heaven, and to these nights they preserve the idiotic morals of the mortals around them as a means of curbing and denying their nature. In this, they are worse even than the agnostic Camarilla.
But what of the polytheist religions? We have no reason to doubt the existence of moral codes that looked for the many pagan deities to justify a vampire’s denial of its nature. Should these be considered akin to the Path of Heaven? Perhaps. Writings of the Dark Ages point to a proto-Path called the Road of Light. Indeed, it is believed that since the ancient times of the Second City an abject Antediluvian has followed this Road, if he was not in fact its creator—Saulot. It is interesting to note how those who have sought to deny their true natures, even among the traitorous Antediluvians, have fallen. Here is a lesson, no doubt.
However, we cannot fail to remember the great influence the Path of Heaven had over the Lasombra Clan during the Dark Ages of Europe. Indeed, on the one hand, we must give the Clan credit for finally casting aside the failed mortal morality some of their Clanmates professed and for purging the notion that vampires need to be like mortals to recognize their place in the world. However, the influence of what we have previously believed as extinct still exists, hidden in plain sight among the Sabbat. Those so-called Abyss Mystics might have cast aside their pretense at human morality, but in doing so they have fallen prey to a grave mistake – they worship what they believe is the counterpart of God as once the whole of Clan Lasombra worshipped the Christian God. To understand the heresy of Abyss Mysticism we must understand that Clan Lasombra has believed their power over darkness is connected to the divine, or rather, to a profanation of the divine. This belief has existed since time immemorial. The oldest register of that belief comes from ancient Persia, which must have undoubtedly inspired both the Path of Light and its Lasombra-led counterpart, the Path of Darkness. Both were terrible, since the followers of the former took inspiration from the Gods of Light and human morality, and the followers of the later venerated to Gods of Darkness and gave themselves freely to them. In Ancient Persia, the Gods of Light and Darkness were understood to be enemies and to be involved on a epic struggle.

From the Gospel of Laodice, as translated by Sir Parsifal of the Right Knights of His Most Holy of Vengeance and Sir Leonitus of the Knight of Penance, appearing almost identically in the Book of Threefold Darkness .

On the First Darkness
“In the beginning, there was darkness,
From that darkness was born the Earth.
Beneath the sky and all the things of Heaven,
The Creator saw what had been wrought,
And brought forth from this earth Man,
The first of His creations with a soul.
Man, whom He loved best of all,
Above even his own Heavenly Host.
Man, best-loved for his pure, pure soul –
A soul born of an earth born of darkness.”

On the Second Darkness
“The first darkness is behind,
In the fog of history of Man.
The first darkness is inherited.
The second, the darkness of the womb,
The blackest pitch of the null world,
Is the test of a new soul’s worth –
When faced with its task,
The place and manner of its execution,
What sees the infant soul beneath its caul?
The second darkness, a dark twofold,
Is the dark of life itself.”

On the Threefold Darkness
“From twofold night, a journey beyond
Into the darkest pitch of night most still.
His welcome is the undiscovered country,
The Creator’s will made manifest
And thrust upon the earthly spirit,
Making a monster of the Man
And a Man of the monster.
A Noddist he is now,
Inheriting the mantle of the First.
And for him, the darkness is bright,
And, lo, does it become him.
The Threefold Darkness now is his.”

On the Noddist Legacy
“Hear, now, the tale of the First:
In the dawn of the first age of Man,
The first son was brought forth on Earth.
First child of sin and seed of the tree,
First inheritor of the First Darkness.
And first of Man to know the Second Darkness.
He grew strong and proud in his principality,
And he loved his Creator for all the world.
The was a second brought forth, a brother,
And the Lord demanded from each a sacrifice;
‘A gift of the first part of your joy,
To burn on the altar of the One Above.’
And the First, in his love, gifted the Lord
With a sacrifice of the first part of his joy –
His brother.
And the Creator showed great displeasure,
Cursing he who killed his brother, saying
‘What has thou done? Thy brother’s blood,
It crieth unto me from the ground!
As your father was cast out, so shal you be.’
And the Creator exiled his to wander in Darkness,
The land of Nod.
And, lo, did that dark become his home,
And, lo, did he become the First Noddist.”

On the Covenant of the Lord
“Hear, now, the tale of the First in exile.
After being cursed, the First knew only despair,
For he had wronged the his Lord and knew not why.
He cried, ‘How can I know which thing is right?’
And the Lord, perhaps for the first and last time,
Took pity upon the First in his despair
And sent the archangel Uriel to counsel him,
The all-knowing Lord knew the mind of the First,
And knew that he would take the childer to ease his pain.
His angel found the First in the Darkness,
And said unto him, ‘You have been cursed,
But know that there is hope in doing right;
You have been cursed, but those of your line
May be redeemed if they heed the laws of of God –
The laws I give unto you now.
‘As you are master of Nod,
Thy domain is thy own concern.
Thou art its master,
And all will respect this or suffer thy wrath.’
Thus spoke the angel of the Lord.”

Exegesis
“From darkness comes the Noddist,
Born of fog and ordained by damnation.
Through darkness journeys the Noddist,
Into whose borne he cannot know nor see.
In darkness eternal dwells the Noddist,
His spirit hemmed by shadow and shade.
The darkness is within, where it must breathe,
The darkness is without, where it must seethe,
The darkness is above, beneath, behind and beyond.
To the Noddist,
The darkness is and must be everywhere –
But it does not claim him.
Let there be light.”

On Being Faithful
“From the moment of his Embrace,
Until the Last Days, when all will be done,
The soul of the Noddist must make a choice:
Dwell static within its dark inheritance,
Or take heed God’s word and walk proudly
Down the Path of Light
The Lord’s voice call to all Noddists in the dark,
Beckoning them to join Him in the Light.
Each step taken towards this Heavenly sound
Is a step further forward along the Path.
Some steps cover more of the path than others,
And the wise Noddist soon discovers his own pace.
But lo, the path is narrow and often widing,
And those who stray too far may never again
Find their way back to the path of righteousness.
Thus, the Path of the Light requires things divine:
Discipline and faith in the rightness of the way.

On Mastery of the Accursed Self
“Hear, now, the perild of the Adversay,
The Noddist’s attunement to the Darkness
Makes him a fine catch for the hoary host of Hell,
And for those already damned beyond damnation,
It is the curse of the Noddist to abide
The proximity of this evil, but not to succumb.
The Light may be dim, at first,
But it grows brighter with each victory over sin.
Behold, the tools of the Adversary:
It will seduce, beguile and corrupt;
It will tug at the Noddist’s heartstrings;
It will tickle the bone of his humor;
Especially in times when humor is ill suited;
It will erode the Noddist’s very sense of self,
And in the easiest way to the Noddist’s soul,
It wil fuel the fire of his burning hunger,
And attempt to use his own curse against him.
If heeded, its voice will grow louder, louder,
Until it drowns out the voice of the Father.
This, the Noddist must prevent,
On peril of his very soul.
Both within and without,
The voice of the Adversary must be beaten down.
At all costs.”

I Nomi di Ombre e Ombre
Compiled and written by a kindred going by the name of Carrionis de Goatha, who had great mastery of the Obtenebrous arts, this exceedingly rare tome has been frustrating mystics of the Abyss for centuries with its promises of power. Written sometime during the 12th Century, it first saw publication of sorts between the years of 1197 and 1230 as a cabal of Abyss mystics (whom most modern Mystics believe also had ties to the infernalists of the Angellis Ater) circulated and copied it many times. Later, in the middle of the 18th century, a particular Cardinal of the Sabbat known to pursue occult interests was reported to possess a printed copy in her massive library. The origin of this mysterious printed copy remains a mystery, though some point to various suspects, most often Mediterranean Lasombra.
Originally entitled Dal Ombra d'Italia, which translates from Italian to “From the Shade of Italy,” causing many to believe it may only pertain to beings found in Italian lands, I Nomi di Ombre e Ombre, (“The Names of Shades and Shadows”) as it is known currently, contains what appear to be lists of the names of several dark, unearthly beings. Also listed are all of the aliases they seem to have gone by—up to hundreds a piece, for some—all listed in a particular, undecipherable order. Included in each chapter are notes on the traits, characteristics and sometimes even strengths and weakness of the given being. Not the most rare book an Abyss mystic could seek to obtain for their collection but certainly not an easy find, those who have read it often hotly debate not only its meaning, but its contents. To make matters worse, the relatively newer, printed versions seem to contain more complete notes on each of the entities listed in the book, while older hand-copied versions seem to quite often contain notes in the margins or on papers tucked between pages, causing many Mystics to scramble to obtain multiple copies. It is said that this book contains the many True Names needed to control great and powerful creatures of darkness, and to learn their secret is to learn the limits of existence.