Methuselah (World of Darkness)

Methuselahs are fictional powerful vampires from White Wolf Game Studio's books, role-playing games Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Dark Ages. In addition, in Vampire: The Eternal Struggle each player takes the role of a Methuselah.

In the core rulebook of Vampire: The Masquerade, Methuselahs are described as vampires of Fourth and Fifth Generations:

"They are millennia old, exceedingly rare, and almost as powerful as the Third Generation. Few of this Kindred remain active participants in the Jyhad, as their potent blood is craved by vampires younger than they. Many Methuselahs take refuge in hidden torpor, where they may avoid attempts at diablerie by lesser Kindred and control their own forces in the Jyhad. In recent years, a number of powerful Methuselahs are whispered to have risen in far corners of the Earth, and the most influential members of the Camarilla's Inner Circle and the Sabbat's regent and prisci are rumored to be Methuselahs."

According to the game's rules, a vast psychological change besets vampires that reach the ages of a Methuselah, weeding out the weaker psyches that would have no taste for eternal life. They are smarter than normal World of Darkness humans and their methods, goals, and logic would seem alien to vampires. In game terms, this is usually paired with abandonment of The Path of Humanity, or a traditionally Western morality structure.

The Methuselahs are elders among Elders in the World of Darkness. While the existence of older vampires, the third generation, is debated in-game, the existence of Methuselahs is largely accepted. In the final decades of the Old World of Darkness settings, many Methuselahs played active roles in the unfolding of events.