Time devours dreams and beauty. This truth is emphasized by the purity of the lily’s snow-white petals as it succumbs to the inexorable rot and decay that inevitably creeps in. So it is with kindred: the perfect, unchanging pallid complexions prove to be a stark canvas for the Beast to paint upon as if it were Dorian Gray’s own portrait. We might yearn to follow our better angels, but the beast is persistent, patient, and unyielding – The truth of our nature that so many shy away from, but understanding it is the first step toward mastering it.

As artists and heralds, the Wilting Lily guides society, evoking the minds and beasts of kindred with aesthetic creations and caustic repudiations, but it is the education of kindred that is our highest calling. However, we are no mere school marms; no, our lecture halls are our galleries and concert halls where you gravitate to the paintings, sculptures, and music that speak to you, your voice and your Beast, leading you to discover truth for yourself. They are the salons where you can speak your truth and refine it against those of others. This is a constant, unending process where we erode even the greatest bastions of will among us, only to build them back up anew.

This is not a selfless task. Each kindred’s journey, each truth, is inspiration for our work. The love and pain of others puts oil to canvas and music to sheet. This cycle is part of our truth, and its first step is learning for ourselves, for you can only create what you know.

The Second Inquisition sunders our cities even as the Beckoning tears millennia of wisdom from our halls and Wassail rips sanity from the mind, but great tragedy births great art. How have these horrors shaped us, what art will they drive us to create, and what lessons will others take from our inspired works? What better place to begin this lesson than the American city where ancients are said to still walk? Join us in Chicago, and write the next story that will change the night.