Power is - not an aspect of blood,
not of words without actions,
not aimless killing.
Instead,
he who dares risk to confront the sun,
to bleed, to endure the pain without twitching;
he who can say he does not care about being abused,
being beaten,
shunned,
hated by fate herself;
He has truly reached His immortality.
Summary
The Splinters of Dusk center around a philosophic ideal rather than a will to fight. Their main purpose within the clan is the furthering of their philosophic ideals and the avid discussion thereof. Simply put, the Splinters ask themselves the question: In a world where immortality and superhuman strength is given, what is power?
Mictian's stance
"Looking at many clans that exist in Ravenblack City - and beyond - today, and seeing the amount of respect given carelessly to those who do not deserve it by the apparently weaker vampires, respect given to monsters of feeding machines with a history of bites and not much else, it depresses me.
"Not only is the concept of power suddenly bastardised to be represented as something physical, but then this physical representation is purely nonsensical.
"What of the vampire that bites no one but is a stealthy thief and skilled in what he does?
"What of the vampire that offers his help to those who wish to further their abilities and lets blood?
"What of the vampire that allows himself to be fed upon by a beloved, starving himself, but with sheer stamina allowing him to continue moving and acting?
"Compare all these cases to the vampire who has drank his fill and sits in an armchair doing nothing but reigning the city with a pencil, he who suppresses a burp and can barely move, for his apparent power has made him lazy... compare these cases, then tell me, do you really think this is how it should be? Do you believe he should be in power, who will flinch and whine for his sire the moment a vial of Holy Water comes into his closer vicinity? He who begs for mercy at the hands of an assailant, powerless, thence?
"Power is a subjective state of mind. The truly powerful will recognise it and will learn to wield it and will learn to shape the subjective reality around Him to His wishes, He will dictate his senses and not the other way around, He will use his immortality as it was intended to be used, He will have the power to be stopped by nothing and no one - and all weaker will perish, and be ruled, but be ruled by a superior with no ill will, for he has everything already, and could gain nothing from those He has beaten.
"Do away with your love for blood. It is useless. Do away with your prayers directed at false gods. It is useless. Look within, find yourself, find your true strength, and you will be immortal."
- Mictian
The Gecko as a Symbol
The gecko has a two-fold symbolism for the Splinters of Dusk:
1. Geckos are known to regrow their tails once lost, even going as far as to disconnect it when a predator has them trapped by it, only to scurry off unharmed. To lose a physical part of oneself like that so willingly for one's survival resonates with the Splinters of Dusk mindset of self-immolation for strength.
2. Their defiance of gravity by walking walls and ceilings with ease comes as a more abstract symbolism: The Splinters of Dusk live outside Ravenblack City social norms both by being inheritly non-resting as well as by being detached as they are, refusing to retaliate if struck.
Name heritages: OOC information
Splinters Of Dusk ~ The dusk/dawn combination which is often used by the Splinters of Dusk is a symbol of their constant balancing on the edge of the vampirically possible, where the danger is represented by the sun. Also, this choice of neither night ('good') nor day ('evil') as their domain reflects neutrality.
Shards ~ The name 'Shard' was picked as a synonym for 'Splinter' once the thieving aspect of the Splinters of Dusk ached for it's own name. The whole splinter/shard in the name of the clan has no true background. Dread was looking through an online thesaurus in looks for words describing a clan, drifted off to siblings, drifted off to lineage, then eventually drifted into a category she no longer knows, threw at Lady Kayura the name 'Splinters of Dusk' upon seeing 'Splinters' in sheer desperation, with a winkey smiley... and it stuck.
Splinters ~ The Splinters as a synonym for 'the assassins' would have been changed to something less prone to being confused with 'The Splinters' as a synonym for 'that 'ere clan' if Dread would have found a useful synonym in the thesaurus. She failed miserably, so 'Splinters' stayed 'Splinters'. Ironically, the Splinters - if referring to the assassins - would be 'Splinters of Dawn' (Morningtide), rather than '...Dusk'.
The Morningtide ~ The reason for the Splinters to also be known as the Morningtide was, first, the need for a subclan name to easily refer to them. 'Assassin Sub-Clan' was, quite simply, too boring. The name specifically was thence picked because of the general dusk/dawn combination that the Splinters of Dusk use and the aggressive nature of the Splinters - the sun burns vampires, and during the morningtide, the sun rises and becomes stronger.
The Eventide ~ Like with the Morningtide, the Eventide was made up for need of a catchy subclan name. As a word directly related to Morningtide, Eventide was the first choice on that aspect of things. All the nicer that it suited then the (comparatively) passive and peacefulness of this sub-clan.