While all this was going on, our water supply was so limited that no one could buy enough water for one denarius to satisfy or quench his thirst. Both day and night, on the fourth and fifth days of the week, we made a determined attack on the city from all sides.

However, before we made this assault on the city, the bishops and priests persuaded all, by exhorting and preaching, to honor the Lord by marching around Jerusalem in a great procession, and to prepare for battle by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Early on the sixth day of the week we again attacked the city on all sides, but as the assault was unsuccessful, we were all astounded and fearful.

However, when the hour approached on which our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to suffer on the Cross for us, our knights began to fight bravely in one of the towers - namely, the party with Duke Godfrey and his brother, Count Eustace. One of our knights, named Lethold, clambered up the wall of the city, and no sooner had he ascended than the defenders fled from the walls and through the city. Our men followed, killing and slaying even to the Temple of Solomon, where the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles....

Gesta francorum et aliorum Hierosolymytanorum (The Deeds of the Franks), Unknown, 1100

The city of Jerusalem has been taken by the Crusaders.   The evidence of this is everywhere, from the smoke that is thick in the air from the funeral pyres of those that died to the stains of blood that have soaked through the streets. There are a few who lived here before who have survived, those who found refuge or were taken as prisoners and have now been put to task in cleaning up the carnage and burning the dead.  But for the most part, Jerusalem is now an empty city, occupied by a few thousand crusaders and haunted by a history that spans thousands of years.

Cruaders took a vow to the Church, a vow that they would be released from once they stepped inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and prayed.   That was the moment for which the crusaders had endured five years and countless trials.  That was what they had fought for – to be able to offer their words to God at the very place where his Son had been crucified. 

Now that this has been done, what is to come?  Not a month has passed since the walls of the city were breached, and many of the crusaders are already making plans to return home.  Their glorious crusade had been accomplished, Jerusalem had been wrested from the Muslims, and now it is time to return to wives and lands and familiar political struggles.  There are few who are willing to make the city their home, and there are too few Christians to rebuild the city that is deep in hostile lands. 

And the city that remains, who should rule it?  Of the noble princes who made the long journey, who would become the King of Jerusalem?  Who would organize the city and its defenses?

The Kindred who followed the crusaders to Jerusalem did so for many reasons, but the questions that face them now are no different then those that face the Kine.  How will the city be held, and what role will the Kindred play in this?  Who is strong enough to hold the city, to claim the mantle of Prince of Jerusalem?  How will the nearly arrived European powers deal with a city whose history, and blood, stretches back for centuries?  Will the alliances formed during five years of Crusade hold now that the task is done?  Or will blood fracture into old fueds as soon as the ash settles?

This is the awesome possibility, and the dark horror, that is Jeresulem.

A Vampire Requiem LARP One-Shot

Saturday, May 30, 2009 3pm to 9pm

Zhou B. Art Center * 1029 W. 35th St. * Chicago * $5

ca-storytellers "at" googlegroups "dot" com