Master Etrius,

It has been some years since our last exchange. I had thought with the fulfillment of the boon it might have been our last exchange but fate may have made that impossible. I have discovered something which could shift winds around all of us, and it is my view that Clan Tremere should be forewarned for all of our sakes. And I will be frank, for the danger may be larger than I am currently aware.

i do not know how much of my clans history you are aware of. We are an insular and isolated group, often times ignored by the larger Cainite community, after all. Our clan has always been for the study of death, that is well known. Not as well known is that our nature changed not long before my embrace, around the time you and your clan was born.

Our founder, known commonly as Cappadocius but to us as Ashur, had long searched for the secrets of death. At that time, our clan was the most numerous of all, with over twelve thousand living in darkness. But one evening, just outside of the city of Jerusalem, he encountered a strange man. What happened is not entirely clear, but when he left the mans tent, he was experiencing visions which directed him to a mission that would nearly destroy the clan and may have put us all in danger.

He had not taken on a new childer in millennia, and had no urge to do so. What childer he had were all studious, reserved, who would prefer to study a forgotten tome than to care for the world around him. They were all detached, not with deep living connections. Suddenly, he sought a new childer, a greedy businessman from Vienna with an incestuous family – very out of character for him. He then set this man and his family a task of refining their own mortal magical talents for the clans benefit.

Then he led his clan to our underground city of Kaymakli. There he sorted the clan, those who were willful, who did not study in the same manner as he, who did not hold the particular interpretation as he, who were strong in battle, who could resist change, his criteria effectively came to those who would be able to break free of direct control. Those who could were imprisoned within its catacombs along with those who had no talent for what was to come.

That is how I met my sire, he was called to Kaymakli but while travelling had heard of my visions, ones I had since I could talk. He was curious, and I warned him that he was walking to his own prison. He stole me away, and so I came to be who I am today.

Recently, I had encounter with some clansmen, who were quite strange. Our discipline of Mortus has been our hallmark since the Second City. They had no concept of it, and some of them were older than I. Instead, they spoke of Necromancy, a Cainite death magic which reminded me of your own capability. It was completely unknown to me and still was yet different from your own talent, with a focus on the lands of spirits. I had heard rumors of a Nigrimancy from the new childer of Ashur, but this was something else, something strange.

Then they spoke of Ashur’s quest, given to him by the visions he had gained since the encounter with the strange man in the desert. As I inquired, the details became very clear, and very dangerous. In heretic language, they spoke of Ashur replacing God himself. What alarmed me was the mechanism for him to do it. As they described it, that is when all of his actions began to become clear. The process for this, the ceremony by which he believes to achieve this, he needs to rip down the barrier between this and the spirit world.

In exchange with my own sire, he has run into clansmen who spoke of the same, all those who had no concept of Mortus and knew only Necromancy all were insistent that they must rip down the barrier. Even our own group, those who did not heed the call to Kaymakli, has had its leader fallen to this madness. He was the most potent user of Mortus of us all, even surpassing Ashur himself. Now he knew none of it, and spoke only of Necromancy. His own quest rejected Ashurs, and had his own goals to accomplish, yet he still spoke of destroying the the barrier as needed.

My sire is now fleeing deep into the dark continent with others. This heresy is to fear, the change in dynamic is wrong. Our kin are strangers to us, and now are engaging as some of the mortal zealots – embrace our thought or die. Even our clans bloodline the Lamia, our protectors, are wary I have been led to understand. I would not be surprised if they abandoned the clan rather than stay.

It all stems from this one man, this stranger in the desert. The embrace of a new childer of unorthodox nature in order to get this new, unknown ability, and then to forget our original ability. The imprisonment of those who had no aptitude for the ability along with those who would be able to resist a controlling force. And all of it with a goal which would unleash the land of spirits on to this world, it must be related, it must be from this man.

Etrius, I know the seriousness of this is not lost on you. If the barrier is destroyed, not torn but destroyed entirely, it would undo our world entire. I do not know who the stranger is, but with the absolute nature shift, and the near plague like spread among my clan, my instinct tells me it may have been a mortal mage. It is lost on me why one would wish to see hell released upon earth, but this must be stopped.

I write to you due to your history, your knowledge of the mortal magical world, and because you would be one who could understand the danger this holds. I leave you to consider any actions. I shall await for a response if any.

Malik al’Dimaag, Prince of Sighisoara