(La Maison de Crepuscule ~ The House of Twilight Lodge)
Welcome to House Rakoczy!
Let me first tell you a bit about our name. The name Rakoczy traces its roots back to Hungary and is one of the oldest families in Eastern Europe. In the Hungarian language, the word Rákóczy derived as a word or name to describe someone from any of four places called Rákóc in what was formerly part of Hungary (now Slovakia and Ukraine). This surname is also well established in Poland and Austria.
Origin and use of the name. House Rakoczy is a Household primarily for those who are or believe they may be of the Upyreshi, a race known to humans as Vampyre. The paradigm or philosophy of House Rakoczy is devoted first to the idea of Vampyrism as both a physical and spiritual reality. One is born to or of the Upyreshi, not made or turned from one life-form to another.
Rakoczy is reputedly a name used by that historical personage, the Count of Saint Germain, in the 18th century and following. The Count is thought to be a truly successful alchemist, having apparently attained the philosopher’s stone that grants immortality to its possessor and, in the last two centuries, linked to the practice of vampirism, at least in fiction.
The Path of the Eclipse. The way of life offered by this House is called collectively “The Path of the Eclipse” and it is composed of three areas of knowledge that together combine to forge for the individual seeker his or her own path of the eclipse.
Being creatures of the night, we look to the ever-changing, ever-constant Moon that lights the darkness. The first area of knowledge is the Road of the Moon which comprises training in the martial arts as well as the cultivation of personal power. In short, the Road of the Moon is the beginner’s training in the art of survival. The esoteric Road of the Moon shows its public face as the exoteric Komuso Ryu. Not all members of the Ryu are members of the House. Householders who are also active members of the Ryu are known as Knights of House Rakoczy).
The second area of knowledge undertaken is comprised of the occult arts and is called the Road of the Star. Those who pursue the path of the star are generally referred to as Mage or Mancer as per their particular Foci. The Road of the Star encompasses the disciplines of ritual magic, sorcery, wizardry, Arcanum and the science of pacts. The esoteric Road of the Star has as its public face the exoteric OTA or Ordo Tenebri Astrum.
The final area of knowledge concerns the divine and is the religious aspect of the House; it is the faith that joins the arts of the Moon and Star together in a single paradigm. This faith is called the Road of the Blood. Unlike the two arts or disciplines, the faith of the House has no public face. This is so because the faith as a religion is made up of cults devoted to aspects of the Dark Lord. These aspects usually follow the Upyreshi bloodlines. Those who guide and maintain the cults that compose the Path of the Blood are referred to as priests, although it would not be inappropriate to compare their function to that of the shaman of a small tribe or village.
Non-exclusive and individual. Each of the “roads” of the Path of the Eclipse has its own symbols and sub-paradigms. It is thus possible for the roads to act as independent paths, and one may practice or adhere to a single path or road, but need not adhere to all three. Indeed, one who is of the blood need not practice any of the arts to be a member of the Household; such members are referred to as Brothers and Sisters of the Court of Shadows of House Rakoczy.
The Paradigm. All members of House Rakoczy are expected to invest in the paradigm of the House insofar as they are able. What is a matter of faith for some will be symbolic or metaphorical for others. There are those of House Rakoczy who have taken up the complete Path of the Eclipse in all of its three roads.
The philosophy of House Rakoczy can be summed up in the Nine Precepts of the Path of the Eclipse.
The Nine Precepts
1. Abandon hope, accept truth.
2. Just and faithful through darkness eternal.
3. Out of darkness shines the light.
4. To live we must face and embrace death as a means to enforce will.
5. No thing is true all is perceived.
6. To be a part of the force of change is to dictate said change.
7. Though the way is dark the light from within will guide and sustain us.
8. All nothing, desire manifest reality.
9. Out of death, life; through corruption, purity; with purity, truth is seen.
In general, the Householders invest in the idea that it is for each individual to act as is his or her nature. Vital to House Rakoczy is the concept that if fate exists it will play out regardless of what anyone does; therefore, it is for each individual to act as if his or her will and fate are one and the same. Because fate will out no matter what, there is nothing to stop one from seeking and making what one wills a reality. We believe that the gods don’t need us to do their will, but rather the will of our patron—known as the Dark Lord—is manifest through those who invest in Him by doing their own will. The Path of the Eclipse holds that the will of each individual is a thread in the fabric of fate and that fate, if it exists, must include every possible outcome.
Connection to the Scholomance. In the last twenty years of the 20th century, a group of those with Vampyric or Stygian blood and a mutual interest in Vampyric lore and the practice of the occult and martial arts came together in a loose approximation of that legendary “School of Solomon” or Scholomance. As is often the case, the Scholomance legend, though potent, is demanding. It inspired this group for only a few years and of its original nine members only one continues to practice the arts developed by the group.
The remaining active Scholomanari, with the blessing of the Dark Lord and under His patronage, accepted the assignment and undertook the task of maintaining and further developing the knowledge and experiments of his brethren in the esoteric arts. The reconciling of the various paths and their adjuncts has led, in the circuitous way of the true practitioner, to House Rakoczy. Thus, after a fashion, is the Scholomance reconstituted or reborn under the auspices of House Rakoczy.
Family Surnames. The actual Rakoczy family is historically noted as having been invested with the Order of the Dragon or the Ordo Draconis. Of interest is the thought or theory of some that the Ordo Draconis was the public face of the Scholomance. The Rakoczy family has blood ties to two other families linked to receipt of the Ordo Draconis in actuality and to vampirism historically and in fiction—that of the Tsepesh and the Bathory families. To celebrate and memorialize the valor of the ancestral lineage of the House, members of House Rakoczy give their in-House surnames as being Rakoczy-Dracul. The word “Dracul” designates the Ordo Draconis. This further indicates to the initiated that they are Rakoczy as per the paradigm rather than by mundane family ties, though some members of the House are actually both.
It is hoped that the paradigm put forth by House Rakoczy will inspire others to partake in it, some by joining House Rakoczy and others by founding or joining other Houses or Courts. All members of sanctioned brother or sister Houses of Clan Dracul are associate members of the House Rakoczy Court of Shadows, whose symbol is a draconic oroborus. The use of the Dracul suffix and oroborus symbol should not be taken as meaning that House Rakoczy and its attending Houses claim any link to the historical Order of the Dragon; rather these devices are used to pay homage to the Mythos of the House and clearly delineate between Rakoczy of Upyreshi nature and those of the human family of the same name. The sign of recognition of House Rakoczy is a Naga having four heads bearing on its neck the glyph of an inverted crescent, normally worn as a ring. Other symbols are part of the working of each road and attainment of the path.
Thus done and signed this Twelfth night in the Twentieth Year of the Twenty-First Century A. D. (common time) in the Hour of the Octopus.
- Mephistopheles