The Black Veil

History of the Black Veil

The widespread version of the Black Veil, hosted on literally thousands of real vampire sites across the Internet, is the result of a collaboration between Father Sebastian and Michelle Belanger. The original concept for the Black Veil was developed by Sebastian in the early nineties. It was strongly influenced by a widespread code of conduct honored in the New York fetish scene with overtones of chivalry borrowed from the Renaissance circuit. The first printed mention of the Black Veil appeared in the 1998 Vampyre Almanac. Here, the Black Veil was not specificly laid out as a document unto itself but instead was referred to in loose and general terms which stressed both secrecy and chivalry. Sebastian's later version, published online in 1999, had seven rules of behavior which perpetuated the focus on secrecy and a chivalric attitude toward fellow vampires. A combination of the flowery wording, points which stressed respect toward elders and hospitality, and the fact that there are specifically seven rules reminded too many people in the online vampire community of the Traditions of Vampire: the Masquerade -- a popular vampire-themed role playing game. While many in the worldwide vampire community saw the need for an ethical code of conduct and embraced the Black Veil in spite of its alleged connection to the game, the document still received some criticism because it could confuse real vampires with vampires from an RPG.

I got involved with the Black Veil because I liked the idea of a code of ethics that could serve as a guideline of behavior within the real vampire community. But, like many others familiar with V:tM, the version Todd had online in the late 90s was a little too reminiscent of the Traditions for my taste. Originally, I asked permission to update it and offered that my name be left off -- I had no problem with the revision being passed off as Todd's own work, so long as the changes I considered so crucial were made. In the end, my name got associated with the rewrite anyway. This first revision also became known as the Thirteen Rules of Community, for I'd expanded on the original seven rules specifically to draw comparisons away from the Traditions of the Masquerade. While this revised version of the Black Veil still received some amount of criticism for its sometimes melodramatic turn of phrase (as I said, there's no getting away from that in the vampire community), it was a good compromise between the original spirit of Todd's work and an ideology more specific to the evolving real vampire community. My main concern with the original Black Veil was to develop wording that retained the spirit of the code without calling to mind an RPG.

If it were to fly as a code of conduct, as many people as possible had to take it seriously. Apparently I did something right, because after the first rewrite, the Black Veil became the most widespread code of conduct in use within the international community, and it clearly inspired numerous factional groups to develop similar codes with their own wording. In 2002, another revision was released, stream-lining the wording, clarifying meaning, and trimming the total rules from thirteen back to seven. At this point, the document had established itself as an entity in its own right, and the fact that there were seven rules no longer automatically classed it as derivative of Vampire: the Masquerade. Since its inception in the mid-nineties, the Black Veil has grown to be one of the most widely recognized tenets of the vampire subculture. It has been referred to in numerous books, and it was even given references in a February 2004 episode of CSI: Vegas. The Black Veil is mentioned in SciFi's bio of its resident vampire, Don Henrie, and through his work on Mad, Mad House the Black Veil, and the culture it represents, have gained unprecedented exposure and acceptance in the mainstream world. --Michelle Belanger

http://www.michellebelanger.com/

http://www.michellebelanger.com/blackveil.php

http://www.sahjaza.com/

http://www.kheperu.org/