Lexicon

Common Parlance

These are terms commonly used among the Kindred.

Anarch: A rebel among the Kindred, one with no respect for the elders. Most fledglings are automatically assumed to be anarchs by the elders, and are despised as products of the 20th century.
Barrens, The: The areas of a city that are devoid of life - graveyards, abandoned buildings and parks.
Beast, The: The drives and urges which prompt a vampire to become entirely a monster, forsaking all Humanity. Vide Man infra.
Becoming, The: The moment one becomes a vampire; the metamorphosis from mortal to Kindred. Also called The Change.
Blood: The vampire's heritage. That which makes a vampire a vampire, or simply the actual blood of the vampire.
Blood Kindred: The relationship between vampires of the same lineage and clan. The idea is much the same among mortals; only the means of transmission are different.
Blood Oath: The most potent bond which can exist between vampires; the receiving of blood in an acknowledgement of mastery. This grants a mystical power over the one who is bound. Vide Blood Bond infra.
Book of Nod: The "sacred" book of the Kindred, tracing the race's origins and early history. It has never been published in its entirety, although fragments are known to exist in various languages.
Brood: A group of vampires gathered around a leader (usually their sire). A brood may in time become a clan (qv).
Caitiff: A vampire with no clan; frequently used in a derogatory fashion. To be clanless is not a virtue among the Kindred.
Camarilla: A global sect of vampires in which all Kindred may hold membership. Its rule is far from absolute, and it serves as a debating chamber more than a government.
Childe: A derogatory term for a young, inexperienced, or foolish vampire. The plural form is Childer.
Clan: A group of vampires who share certain mystic and physical characteristics. Vide lineage, bloodline.
Diablerie: The cannibalistic behavior common among Kindred, involving the consumption of the blood of another vampire. The elders do so out of need, whereas the anarchs do so out of desire for power.
Domain: The fiefdom claimed by a vampire, most often a prince. Invariably a city.
Elder: A vampire who is 300 years of age or older. Elders consider themselves the most powerful Kindred, and usually engage in their own Jyhad.
Elysium: The name given for the places where the elders meet and gather, commonly operas, theaters or other public places of high culture.
Embrace, The: The act of transforming a mortal into a vampire by draining the mortal's blood and replacing it with a small amount of the vampire's own blood.
Fledgling: A young, newly created vampire. Vide Neonate, Whelp.
Generation: The number of steps between a vampire and the mythical Caine. Caine's Get were the second generation, their brood the third, and so on.
Gehenna: The end of the Third Cycle; the impending Armageddon when the Antediluvians shall awaken and devour all vampires.
Ghoul: A servant created by allowing a mortal to drink Kindred blood without the draining that would give rise to a progeny.
Haven: The home of a vampire or the place where it sleeps during the day.
Hunger, The: As with mortals and other animals, the drive to feed. For vampires, though, it is much more intense, and takes the place of every other drive, urge and pleasure.
Inconnu: A sect of vampires, mostly Methuselahs, who have removed themselves from both mortal and Kindred affairs. They state that they have nothing to do with the Jyhad.
Jyhad, The: The secret war being waged between the few surviving vampires of the third generation, using younger vampires as pawns. Also used to describe any sort of conflict or warfare between vampires.
Kindred: A vampire. Many elders consider even this term to be vulgar, and prefer to use a more poetic word such as Cainite.
Kiss: To take the blood of a mortal, of the act of taking blood in general.
Lupine: A werewolf, the mortal enemy of the vampires.
Lush: A vampire who habitually feeds upon prey who are under the influence of drink or drugs in order to experience the sensations thereof. Vide Head.
Life, The: A euphemistic term for mortal blood taken as sustenance. Many Kindred regard the term as affected and prissy.
Man, The: The element of humanity which remains in a vampire, and which strives against the base urgings of the Beast (qv).
Masquerade, The: The effort begun after the end of the great wars to hide Kindred society from the mortal world. A policy reaffirmed after the time of the Inquisition.
Prince: A vampire who has established a claim to rulership over a city, and is able to support that claim nil disputandum. A prince often has a brood (qv) to aid him. The feminine form is still prince.
Riddle, The: The essential dilemma of a vampire's existence - to prevent the occurrence of greater atrocities, one must commit evil deeds of a lesser nature. The proverb is: monsters we are lest monsters we become.
Rogue: A vampire who feeds upon other vampires, either out of need or perversion. Vide Diablerie.
Sabbat, The: A sect of vampires controlling much of eastern North America. They are violent and bestial, reveling in needless cruelty.
Sect: General name for one of the three primary groups among the Kindred - the Camarilla, Sabbat, or Inconnu.
Sire: The parent-creator vampire, used both as the female and male form.
Vessel: A potential or past source of blood, typically a human.

Old Form

These are words used by elders and other old vampires. They are rarely used by younger vampires.

Amaranth: The act of drinking the blood of other Kindred. Vide Diablerie.
Ancilla: An "adolescent" vampire; one who is no longer a neonate, but is not an elder either.
Antediluvian: One of the eldest Kindred, a member of the third generation. Literally means, "those who lived before the time of the Flood."
Archon: A powerful vampire who wanders from city to city, usually serving a Justicar. Archons are frequently used to track down Kindred who have fled the city.
Autarkis: A vampire who refuses to be a part of Kindred society, and does not recognize the domain of a prince.
Cainite: A vampire. Vide Kindred.
Canaille: The mortal herd, especially that element of it which is the most unsavory and lacking in culture (whom the Kindred largely feed upon).
Cauchemar: A vampire who avoids killing by drinking shallowly and taking too little blood to kill the prey; faut plus chasser, peut mieux dormir. Compare Casanova.
Coterie: A group of Kindred who protect and support one another against all outsiders. Vide Brood.
Consanguineous: One of the ame lineage (usually a younger member).
Footpad: One who feeds off the derelicts and the homeless, and who frequently does not have a haven of her own. Vide Alleycat.
Gentry: A Kindred who hunts the nightclubs, districts of ill repute, and other places of entertainment where mortals seek to pair off. Vide Rake.
Golconda: The state of being to which many vampires aspire, in which a balance is found between opposing urges and scruples. The slide into bestiality is halted, and the individual reaches a kind of statism. Like the mortals' Nirvana, it is often spoken of, but seldom achieved.
Humanitas: The degree to which a Kindred still retains some humanity.
Kine: A contemptuous term for mortals, often used in opposition to Kindred. The expression Kindred and Kine means "all the world."
Leech: A human who drinks a vampire's blood, yet retains free will. Often he keeps the vampire as a prisoner, or offers great rewards for the blood.
Lextalionis: The code of the Kindred, all allegedly created by Caine. It suggests biblical justice " an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Vide Traditions.
Lineage: The bloodline of a vampire, traced by embrace.
Methuselah: An elder who no longer lives among the other Kindred. Many Methuselahs belong to the Inconnu.
Neonate: A young, newly created Kindred. Vide Fledgling, Whelp.
Osiris: A vampire who surrounds himself with mortal and ghoul followers in a cult or coven to better obtain sustenance. The practice is less common than it once was.
Papillon: The red-light district; the area of the city made up of nightclubs, gambling houses and brothels. The prime hunting ground of the city.
Progeny: A collective term for all the vampires created by one sire. Less formal, and less flattering, is Get.
Praxis: The right of princes to rule, as well as the rules, laws and customs enforced by a particular prince.
Primogen: The leaders in a city or the ruling council of elders. Those who support the prince and make her rule possible.
Regnant: One who has a Blood Bond over another Kindred, through giving said Kindred blood three times. Vide Blood Bond.
Retainers: Humans who serve a vampire master. They are generally either ghouls or mentally dominated by their vampire master. This control is sometimes so complete that the mortals are unable to take any action of their own volition.
Siren: A vampire who seduces mortals, but does not kill them and takes only a little blood after putting the mortal into a deep sleep. Vide Tease.
Suspire: The dream dance during the final stage of the quest for Golconda.
Third Mortal: Caine, the progenitor of all vampires, according to the Book of Nod (qv).
Thrall: A vampire who is held under a Blood Bond, and thus under the control of another Kindred.
Vitæ: Blood.
Wassail: The final release and the last frenzy. Wassail occurs when the last vestiges of Humanity are lost and a vampire plunges into madness.
Whelp: A contemptuous term for any young vampire; originally used only in reference to one's own progeny.
Wight: Human, mortal.
Witch-hunter: A human who searches for vampires in order to kill them.
Whig: Name for a Cainite who possesses an obsessive interest in mortal fashion and current events.

Vulgar Argot

These words are frequently used by anarchs, although some elders have begun to use these terms to create a greater effect when they speak.

Alleycat: A vampire who does not have a haven of any kind, but instead resides in a different place each night. Also used to refer to those Kindred who feed off the homeless and other street people.
Banking: The practice, most widespread among younger Kindred, of taking blood from blood banks. Chilled blood so long removed from the body is less satisfying, but some neonates delight in entering a blood bank and drinking to excess. This is seen by many princes as a breach of the Masquerade.
Banker: A Kindred who engages in the practice of Banking.
Black Hand: ; The Camarilla's greatest enemy; a powerful division of the Sabbat. Vide Sabbat.
Blister: A vampire who contracts an infectious disease, and subsequently spreads it to each donor from whom she feeds.
Bloodline: The vampire's heritage. Vide Lineage.
Blood Bond: A mystic servitude to another vampire as a result of taking the Blood Oath. Vide Regnant.
Blood Doll: A Kindred who is held in Regnant by another. The doll is Blood Bound and no longer free.
Butterfly: One who mingles among high society of mortals, and only feeds upon the wealthy and famous.
Casanova: A vampire who delights in seducing mortals but not killing them, and who takes only a little blood, erasing the victim's memory of the event when she is finished. There are rumors that the original Casanova was or is a vampire, but that is not generally believed. Vide Cauchemar.
Change, The: The moment and the process of becoming a vampire. Vide Becoming.
Damned, The: The immortal, undead race. All the vampires as a whole.
Donor: A potential or past source of blood, typically a human.
Farmer: A derogatory term for a vampire who keeps animals for the purpose of feeding the Hunger. Vide Vegetary.
Fief: A sarcastic term for the domain of a clan of prince.
Head: A vampire who feeds upon those under the influence of a drug, so as to feel the effect. The term Head is used with a suitable prefix is the vampire prefers a particular drug. Vide Lush.
Headhunter: An elder who hunts other Kindred for their blood. Vide Rogue, Diablerie.
Lick: A vampire. Vide Kindred.
Rack, The: The hunting ground represented by nightclubs, bars, and other places of entertainment where mortals seek to dance, drink, and pair off.
Rake: One who habitually uses the Rack is a Rake in Vulgar argot; Papillon and Gentry are progressively older terms for the same.
Sandman: A vampire who feeds only upon sleeping victims. Vide Cauchemar.
Slumming: The act of feeding from the homeless and derelicts. A vampire who does so exclusively is a Slummer.
Stalker: A mortal who hunts the Kindred. Vide Witch-hunter.
Tease: A term sometimes used for a female Casanova (qv).
Turf: The city or section of a city that vampires might try to claim for themselves. Vide Fief, domain.
Vegetary: A sarcastic term for a vampire who refuses to take the blood of humans, but relies instead on that of animals. Vide Farmer.

New Orleans Mortal Lingo

Andouille (ahn-do-ee): A spicy country sausage used in Gumbo and other Cajun dishes.

Bayou (bi-yoo): The outlet of a lake or one of the delta streams of a river, usually sluggish and marshy.

Beignet (ben-yea): Delicious sweet doughnuts, square-shaped and minus the hole, lavishly sprinkled with powdered sugar. You can order these directly by going to Cafe du Monde.

The Big Easy: A nickname for New Orleans meaning to take it easy/easy living.

Bon Appetite! (bon a-pet-tite'): Literally - good appetite - or "Enjoy!"

Boudin (boo-dan): Hot, spicy pork mixed with onions, cooked rice, herbs, and stuffed in sausage casing.

Cafe Au Lait (caf-ay oh-lay): Coffee and Chicory blend with milk; usually a half-and-half mixture of hot coffee and hot milk.

Cafe Brulot (caf-ay broo-loh): This dramatic after-dinner brew is a blend of hot coffee, spices, orange peel, and liqueurs. It is blended in a chafing dish, ignited, and served in special cups.

Cajun (cay-jun): Slang for Acadians, the French-speaking people who migrated to South Louisiana from Nova Scotia in the eighteenth century. Cajuns were happily removed from city life preferring a rustic life along the bayous. The term now applies to the people, the culture, and the cooking.

Chicory (chick-ory): An herb, the roots of which are dried, ground; roasted and used to flavor coffee.

Courtbouillon (coo-boo-yon): A rich, spicy soup, or stew, made with fish fillets, tomatoes, onions, and sometimes mixed vegetables.

Crawfish (craw-fish): Sometimes spelled "crayfish" but always pronounced crawfish. Resembling tiny lobsters, these little crustaceans are known locally as "mudbugs" because they live in the mud of freshwater bayous. They are served in a variety of different ways, including simply boiled.

Creole (cree-ol): The word originally described those people of mixed French and Spanish blood who migrated from Europe or were born in Southeast Louisiana and lived as sophisticated city or plantation dwellers. The term has expanded and now embraces a type of cuisine and a style of architecture.

Crescent City: New Orleans is located at a bend of the Mississippi River, where the bend forms the shape of a crescent. Hence, the nickname Crescent City.
Dirty Rice: Pan-fried leftover cooked rice saut�ed with green peppers, onion, celery, stock, liver, giblets and many other ingredients.

Dressed: When referring to a sandwich or Po-Boy this means 'add mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes.'

Etouf�e (ay-too-fay): A succulent, tangy tomato-based sauce. Crawfish etouf�e and shrimp etouf�e are delicious New Orleans specialties. The term literally means "smothered."

Fais do do (fay-doe-doe): The name for a party where traditional Cajun dance is performed. This phrase literally means "to make sleep," although the parties are the liveliest of occasions.

File (fee-lay): Ground sassafras leaves used to season, among other things, gumbo.

French Quarter: The 100 block area originally settled by the French. The architecture, however, is credited to the Spanish.

Grillades (gree-yads): Squares of broiled beef or veal. Grillades and grits is a popular local breakfast.

Grits: Coarsely ground wheat or corn, cooked down in water and served with salt and butter. Somewhat similar in appearance to mashed potatoes, but the taste is closer to corn.

Gumbo (gum-boe): A delicacy of South Louisiana. A thick, robust soup with thousands of variations, only a few of which are Shrimp Gumbo, Chicken Gumbo, Okra Gumbo, and File Gumbo.

Jambalaya (jum-bo-lie-yah): Another many-splendored thing. Louisiana chefs "sweep up the kitchen" and toss just about everything into the pot. Tomatoes and cooked rice, plus ham, shrimp, chicken, celery, onions, and a whole shelf full of seasonings.

Jazz: Rhythmic, syncopated music, often improvised, that was originated by African American musicians. New Orleans is one, if not the, birthplace of this popular style of music.

King Cake: A ring shaped oval pastry, decorated with colored sugar in the traditional Mardi Gras colors, purple, green, and gold, which represent justice, faith, and power. A small plastic baby is hidden inside the cake. Tradition requires that the person who gets the baby in their piece must provide the next King Cake. You can order these directly by going to Haydel's Bakery. See Mardi Gras to learn more.

Lagniappe (lan-yap): This word is Cajun for "something extra," like the extra donut in a baker's dozen. An unexpected nice surprise.

Laissez les bon temps rouler (lay-zay lay bon ton rule-ay ): Let the good times roll!

Mardi Gras (mardi graw): Commonly known as Fat Tuesday, it is the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Roman Catholic season of Lent. It's also the day of the Biggest Party on Earth! See Mardi Gras to learn more.

Mirliton (mel-e-taun): A hard-shelled vegetable pear with edible innards, it is cooked like squash and stuffed with either ham or shrimp and spicy dressing.

Muffuletta (muff-a-lotta): This huge sandwich is made up of thick layers of several different types of Italian meats, cheeses, and a layer of olive salad. Served on special seeded Muffuletta bread, one-half of this monster sandwich is enough to feed a grown man or woman.

Neutral Ground: A strip of land dividing a highway or street into two parallel lanes; the median.

Praline (praw-leen): The sweetest of sweets, this New Orleans tradition is a candy patty. The essential ingredients are sugar, water and pecans. There are many variations on that theme in French Quarter candy and gift shops.

Po-Boy: Another sandwich extravaganza, this one having begun as a five-cent lunch for, what else?, poor boys. There are fried oyster po-boys, roast beef and gravy po-boys, soft-shell crab po-boys and others, all served upon crispy-crusted loaf bread, called French Bread.

Red Beans & Rice: Kidney beans cooked in seasonings and spices which usually includes big chunks of sausage and ham. These cooked beans are served over a bed of rice. This is one of New Orleans' special dishes and is traditionally eaten on Monday (and any other day you get a hankering for it).

Vieux Carre (voo ca-ray): French, meaning "old quarter," and referring to the French Quarter.

Zydeco (zi-de-co): A relatively new kind of Cajun dance music that is a combination of traditional Cajun dance music, R&B, and African blues.