Berlin by Night

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====== Elisabeth-Maria's Orthodox Faith ======

This page describes Elisabeth-Maria's relation to her faith

===== Recurring events =====

This is a list of actions Elisabeth-Maria undertakes as part of her faith which return with regularity

==== Daily Prayers ====

Elisabeth-Maria makes prayers at least once a day and usually every evening after bed and morning before going to sleep. This is in addition to any prayers for specific purposes (praying for someone, visits to church). 

//At the table: To save table time, Daily Prayers are included in the time to prepare for / get out of bed. //

==== Church visits ====

Elisabeth-Maria participates in the liturgy and receives communion every Sunday as well as during the 12 major feast days in the Orthodox Calendar. As a member of the church community, she also receives the Holy Unction during the Holy Week (after Orthodox Easter).

Beyond these days, Elisabeth-Maria also visits the church on other occasions such as the saint days of her loved ones, or when she feels in need of guidance.

//At the table: on Sundays and any major feast days that do not fall on a Sunday (several always do), as well as on certain other occasions, Elisabeth-Maria will visit the church to attend service or pray. To save table time, this does not need to be played out. //

==== Confession ====

At least once a year, preferably more often, Elisabeth-Maria gives confession to a spiritual guide. This can be a priest or a starets (such as [[ic:Rasputin]]). In it she confesses her sins in word, deed and thought and asks for forgiveness.

Certain sins are easier to confess than others. The taking of blood for feeding is not something easily confessed, so a confessor with knowledge of kindred is crucial.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria will attempt to find a confessor to confess her sins to, preferably without violating the masquerade. This can be problematic and requires roleplay. The actual confession itself is probably less important and can probably be summarized to save table time.//

==== Fasting ====

Elisabeth-Maria fasts (does not eat or feed) during the fast days of her religion. There are four longer periods of fasting, and Wednesdays and Fridays are also fast days throughout the year. Certain weeks are exempted from fasting, while certain other special days are extraordinary fast days.

Because Elisabeth-Maria cannot go for extended periods without blood, she does feed on weekends during longer fasting periods, when the rules are not as stringent, preferably only on Sunday.

As a special note, the rules for fasting make an exception for emergencies such as illness or injury. As such, Elisabeth-Maria may feed during a fast if an emergency calls for this.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria won't feed or otherwise take blood on fast days. The exact days are marked in the campaign calendar.//

===== Moral Code =====

Elisabeth-Maria tries her best to follow a certain moral code based on her faith. As a baseline for her moral code, she follows basic Orthodox Christian values, including the ten commandments, the seven virtues and seven sins and the lessons of Jesus Christ.

She is not perfect, and as such sometimes steps slightly over the line. When she does, she confesses her sins and makes penance for it later.

==== Interpretations of the Ten Commandments ====

  * 1) I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.

Elisabeth-Maria does not worship deities other than God. Two details of special consideration in this are the positions of Jesus, the Holy Ghost, and the position of the Saints. 

There is a mountain of theology concerning God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit and long debates can be had about the nature. Elisabeth-Maria does not engage in such debate and leaves that to the church, simply accepting that there is one God and that this one God is Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, perfectly united and never divided, yet not merged into one with no proper distinction. 

In regards to Saints, the Saints are not worshipped, but rather are asked for mercy, prayer or intercession with God. As such, the veneration of Saints, again following the Orthodox Church doctrine, is not considered to be in violation of this. (( Elisabeth-Maria has a special relation with the Saints that is far more complex than can be explained here, but this description applies only for interpreting the first of the ten commandments ))

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria will not participate in religious ceremonies of other belief systems, but has no problem visiting holy sites devoted to other religions, or handling "sacred" items from other faiths with respect. She has no issue participating in occult rituals, so long as they are not based on other religions.//

  * 2) You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above. or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

In accordance with Church Doctrine, Elisabeth-Maria interprets this commandment as not being allowed to make idols for worship. The veneration and creation of relics or icons is not the same as worship and is therefore allowed.

//At the table: this commandment has almost zero influence on Elisabeth-Maria, but for completeness, she won't make idols to worship.//

  * 3) You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Elisabeth-Maria does not curse using the name of God, nor does she speak expletives based upon his name. This includes Jezus and the Holy Ghost.

More generally, when the name of God, Jesus or the Holy Ghost is spoken, Elisabeth-Maria is likely to cross herself out of respect.

//At the table: Disclaimer - the player OOCly is not religious in this way and may accidentally use such a word inappropriately or forget a crossing motion. This should not be considered an act by Elisabeth-Maria unless explicitly stated as such, but rather an OOC error.//

  * 4) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work: but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth. the sea. and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore, the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

Elisabeth-Maria visits church on Sunday and generally does not engage in missions for personal benefit on Sundays, nor will she attend events of entertainment. However, performing acts of mercy and kindness for others on Sunday is most acceptable by Church doctrine, and Elisabeth-Maria may sometimes perform activities to help others on Sundays.

//At the table: On Sundays, Elisabeth-Maria will somewhat limit her activities and won't hold social events nor will she do missions for her own personal gain.//

  * 5) Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

Elisabeth-Maria keeps to this commandment with reverence, and honours her father and mother on their birthdays, saint days and the day of their death.

She has not yet reconciled this commandment with the her embrace, but at least tries to honour her Sire to some level. Religious guidance on this may change her views on the matter, but as of yet she does not have an answer on this topic.

//At the table: Barring emergencies, Elisabeth-Maria takes the day off on the mentioned days and take time to pray.//

  * 6) You shall not kill.

Elisabeth-Maria has not killed a person and takes extra effort never to do so, including taken special care when feeding and making sure her "meal" is safe before leaving.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria will not take more than two points of blood and will take extraordinary effort to prevent killing someone, even if it would lead to her own death.//

  * 7) You shall not commit adultery.

Though her feeding method may - in cases where she has no other options - suggest otherwise, Elisabeth-Maria does not engage in sexual activities at all. This fully precludes any chance of committing adultery.

At some point, if the right person comes around, Elisabeth-Maria is intending upon one day marrying, but that is at the moment still far away and not in the picture. Only once she is married could sexual activity become a relevant matter.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria does not engage in sexuality.//

  * 8) You shall not steal.

Elisabeth-Maria does not steal. More generally she has a low understanding of the exact value of money, never having had to use it for survival - at most it represents a resource exchanged for trinkets and amusement. As such, while Elisabeth-Maria may sometimes fail to realize that certain things cost actual money, once she realises this, she will do her best to make payment or return the good.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria does not take loot that doesn't belong to her, nor does she re-appropriate someone else's property//

  * 9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Elisabeth-Maria sometimes sees things differently from others, but she will not openly lie about the guilt of someone. 

One example is the conflict with Verena, where she declared Verena carried certain responsibilities due to her failure to provide certain things. It could be argued that Elisabeth-Maria's case had less merit than she believes it to have. However, her declaration is true in the (coloured) view of Elisabeth-Maria and as such is not bearing false witness. This is notably different from her making something up.

We can contrast this with the declaration regarding Dieter being involved with the attack on the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek, where despite evidence pointing to Dieter, Elisabeth-Maria defended his position against the group as there was no certainty. 

In the end, it was necessary to make a judgement about what the group believed to be the case, but Elisabeth-Maria did not allow false evidence to be used, merely to follow what little evidence they had to what was the most reasonable conclusion given what they knew. Moreover, the case was presented as such: limited evidence and a conclusion drawn from it, including the note that evidence was thin. 

// At the table: Elisabeth-Maria will not make false accusations, nor lie about others crimes. Notably that doesn't mean she cannot lie about things, just that she will not lie about witnessing a crime when she did not. //

  * 10)  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his man servant, or his maidservant, or his ox. or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

Elisabeth-Maria is generally not easily provoked into jealousy, much to the frustration of her peers who seem far more susceptible to this. That is not to say she cannot challenge someone over something if such is the custom (such as with the position of Keeper), but that is when that something is offered up for grabs to all comers, not when it is owned by others.

Though from a background of affluence, Elisabeth-Maria was raised without luxury and as such while she certainly appreciates fineries and loves pretty things, she has no explicit need for them and can accept limited comforts without complaint. 

Since money has never been an issue of relevance in her life (or in the life of anyone she knew, for that matter), Elisabeth-Maria has no desire to own large sums of money. On a conscious level she knows what money is and how it works, but due to her wealthy background there's a certain cognitive dissonance there and basic concepts like "rent" are alien to her.

All in all, Elisabeth-Maria is an unlikely candidate for violating this commandment, though she is of course not entirely immune to be jealous of certain things. She tries to abandon such thoughts though if and when they arrive.

One notable thing to discuss is the position of Harpy, which Elisabeth-Maria claimed in response to the position not being filled out correctly (in her view). Though one could argue the technicality that she was not taking something from the current Harpies by declaring herself a competing Harpy, this case was actually a close touch upon the commandment. 

It was not a violation, however, since Elisabeth-Maria did not seek out the position of harpy out of desire for the position, but rather as an escalation to (unsuccessfully) force a resolution to what she perceived as an injustice. Regardless, the action was not her finest hour in terms of the moral code and Elisabeth-Maria has accepted that her loss of Impi may have very well been a penalty for her failures in this and surrounding matters.

// At the table: Elisabeth-Maria generally does not strive to take things that are owned by others out of jealousy. //

==== Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Heavenly Virtues ====

  * Chastity / Lust

Elisabeth-Maria has zero sexual education or experience and hailing from a time and place where such things just were not discussed, she is mostly unaware of the depths and details of lust and sexuality beyond girlish crushes. Conceptually, procreation is something that ought to happen only between a husband and wife with the goal of having children, and anything beyond that invites disease and moral corruption.

Despite this view, Elisabeth-Maria is not sanctimonious on the topic, at least in part because most of it goes right over her head. 

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria does not involve herself in sexual activity and usually completely misses the point on this topic - however, she can easily recognise love and may be subject to that herself.//

  * Temperance / Gluttony

While her background might suggest otherwise, in fact Elisabeth-Maria is used to living without luxury, sleeping on hard beds, performing manual labour and doing her own cleaning. She sticks to a regime with regular fasting based on her religious beliefs and while not living in poverty, she lives relatively frugal. One possible exception is that she loves her gowns and clothing and she will invest a lot of time and effort into her appearance - even here though, she does most of her needlework herself. 

Elisabeth-Maria may sometimes cast a judgemental word on those who overindulge themselves - usually behind their backs - but she tries to avoid being truly hurtful about it, especially if the person cannot help themselves.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria sticks to a fasting regiment based on her religious beliefs and has no issue with household tasks and chores, often helping out despite her station.//

  * Charity / Greed

Elisabeth-Maria was raised with charity being a normal daily part of life. With her wealth-level having dropped significantly since being on her own, she still gives at church when she can, and she engages actively in charitable works, for example raising ten million DM to create the [[ic:Stiftung Wolliges Fledermausschutz]]. As such, she actively involves others in her charity work as much as she can, be it by deed or by contribution.

Of note is that Elisabeth-Maria generally does not really understand the value of money, having never wanted for the things she needs and could buy. As such, she may misunderstand the price of goods and services. Moreover, while she can calculate the numbers, she just doesn't really appreciate the value of money on a deeper level.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria regularly undertakes charitable activities and gives away any money she has left at the end of the month to the charity of choice of the Church. As such, she keeps no savings beyond her monthly income//

  * Diligence / Sloth

When she was young, Elisabeth-Maria was not allowed to be idle, and she was often handed tasks such as embroidery or other needlework to do when she was not otherwise occupied. This habit has kept and she tends to piles tasks upon herself to keep working actively rather than sitting around, as she considers it her duty to do deeds for the benefit of others. Incidentally it also helps keep her mind off of the bad times.

Elisabeth-Maria sometimes tries to recruit others into her activities, but more generally she helps others rather than get them involved for the sake of avoiding sloth.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria usually has at least one sewing project that is ongoing and usually has a list of planned activities, in addition to any quests or missions she may have, be it to improve herself, to make her home town more beautiful or to help others. See also [[Elisabeth-Maria Plans]].//

  * Patience / Wrath

Elisabeth-Maria is almost a century old and as such, she has learned at least some degree of patience. In some cases, however, this can still be hard for her and this may manifest in pinching remarks. In rare cases, when confronted with something that causes her grief, or when she sees what she perceives as an injustice, she may even get angry and lash out, as happened when Impi was taken from her, and when Verena and Anntoinnette upset her.

This virtue is probably the one Elisabeth-Maria has the most difficulty with. Still, she attempts to make amends after she has calmed down, for example making Verena deputy keeper and apologizing to Dylan while accepting she would never be with Impi.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria may not be able to avoid impatience or feelings of anger, but she does try to make amends if she did anything unacceptable.//

  * Kindness / Envy

Elisabeth-Maria generally places the interests of others above her own, trying actively to help people and improve their lot in life, expecting no payment in return for her service. She has a kind heart and actively wants others to feel happy.

Contrary to the archetypical vampiress, Elisabeth-Maria does not usually get envious of others in their relationships, expensive clothing and jewellery or other fortunes, instead being happy for their good luck, even if she herself does not enjoy the same fortune.

One bad habit Elisabeth-Maria has is the making of "burning" remarks to others, a habit she inherited from the many years she spent with other vampires who's lives revolved around this.

//At the table: Elisabeth-Maria generally tries to help other people wherever she can, even if there is no reward other than that person benefiting. She is easily and sometimes even self-motivated by quests that help those she knows.//

  * Humility / Pride

Elisabeth-Maria has a deeply complicated and multi-faceted relationship with this virtue / sin pair, that is too complicated to explain concisely. One notable feature is that she not only feels that she is not better than others, as one might expect of a Ventrue, but in fact has a strong inferiority complex.

//At the table: Both her Demeanour and Nature are related to this sin and to the history that shapes her view of this sin / virtue pair.//
===== Challenges to the Faith =====

Description of possible things that would challenge Elisabeth-Maria's faith.

==== Corruption in the Church ====

While at a conscious level, Elisabeth-Maria accepts that there could, in theory, exist priests who are corrupt, in general the singular fact that a person is an Orthodox priest generally clears that person of moral doubt - after all, why would they become a priest if they weren't pure?

Discovering the corruption of a Church Patriarch, of a priest she knows closely or of her confessor (a person whom she'd rely on for advice) would challenge her faith in the Holy Church as an institution.

While the Orthodox Church does not claim infallibility (barring some complexities), a loss of faith in the church would make it difficult to practice her religion, as by its doctrine, a priest is necessary for interactions with God, and membership of a church community is a requirement of faith.

==== Facing Christianity-based vampire hunters ====

Elisabeth-Maria has little experience with vampire hunters, owing to the benefits of always having lived close to the centre of power, which is usually better protected from such incursions.

While a vampire hunter would be traumatic in and of itself, if such vampire hunters were motivated from a religious perspective and founded in Christianity, this would certainly provoke some soul searching.

Notably, in order for this to effectively challenge her faith, the vampire hunters cannot just be raiders who attack a member of the community - there'd need to be some level of interaction between them which shows that their beliefs are not mere show.

Since Elisabeth-Maria is a vampire, and the hunters would probably kill her on sight, this may not be a feasible encounter at least in the short term. Once True Faith is present and its powers manifest, the encounter may offer a challenge of faith on both sides, however.

==== Kindred and the Bible ====

A deeper consideration of the position of the vampire, especially surrounding Cain and biblical history might challenge Elisabeth-Maria's world-view significantly, as she never examined this in detail.

As such, interaction with the Sabbat religious beliefs, as well as encountering details regarding the story of Cain and the Antediluvians may demand that ideas about the origin of the world, and thereby the details of the Holy Bible be reconsidered.

Notably, a confrontation with scientific evidence for the big bang, evolution, etc. would not offer a challenge to Elisabeth-Maria's faith at all. Any scientific theory that denies or trivializes the existence of God is obviously wrong, because of the undeniable fact that God exists and plays a central role in daily existence. Likewise, any theory that denies the existence or relevance of gravity because obviously there is gravity. 

The truth of God is so omnipresent and obvious, to Elisabeth-Maria, that it cannot be challenged on the basis of "no no, this doesn't exist at all" - however, the idea that parts of the story are missing (especially given the fact that vampires aren't mentioned in the bible at all) is another matter entirely.
Berlin by Night

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