Sometime in the distant past, before the Three Ages of Middle Earth, the first intelligent beings with souls walked the Earth. It is said that one of those beings, a Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal, took up a weapon against their fellow tribespeople and slew them. At that moment the universe was unprepared for the occurrence, for the soul was an eternal gift of the One-Above-All and had not lived long enough to have earned a place in the heavenly or infernal realms. As a result, the spirit of the slain person carved its own domain, resulting in the formation of Limbo, the formless domain of souls which would eventually become known as the Underworld.
To the murderer, the backlash was immediate, creating a visible symbol of both their crime and its effect on the metaphysical world. This is what has become known as the Mark of Cain. Though its exact appearance varies from person to person, it generally is a floating sliver of dark flame which floats a few inches in front of the individual's forehead. With practice, the bearer can make the Mark invisible from mundane eyes, but all those with awareness of magic, supernatural, or death can see the Mark clearly. It is like a beacon to the powers of the paranormal.
The Mark of Cain bars the bearer from ever passing on to the afterlife. It does this specifically by preventing that person from ever dying. As long as they bear the mark, they will regenerate any damage their body takes even if they are reduced to atoms. Ironically, the bearer can enter the Underworld whenever they choose, instantly passing into whatever Kingdom of the Dead they desire. However, The Mark bearer is forever a visitor to these realms and never a dead denizen.
A side effect of the Mark is its ability to create, command, and destroy Vampires. Though the Mark itself does not draw from or interact with the Anti-Life Equation, its power of death is so great that it can force someone into the state of Undeath. Through this many Vampires have been created over the years by the Mark, with whole Houses being formed (and eliminated) by those that bear it. It is for this reason that many Houses refer to Cain as the King or Father of all Vampires. Indeed a man known as Cain did bear the Mark for many years, though it is unclear whether he was the same as the individual depicted in the Book of Genesis.
When someone becomes a Bearer, it remains a part of them for the rest of their existence. The Mark can be taken from someone and many people have wielded the Curse of Cain over the millennia. In order to steal the Mark, the Bearer must be damaged to a point where the Mark is the only thing sustaining them. Then the user can pull the Flame from the Bearer's forehead and claim the power for their own. The former wielder of the Mark then instantly dies, their soul plunged into oblivion.
From its creation, there has been speculation on who bore the Mark of Cain. Beyond its name-sake, it is believed that Ashwathama, Nicolas Flamel, Galahad, Gilgamesh, Imhotep, Koschei, Longinus, Qin Shi Huang, Rama Khan, and Ziusudra all possessed the Mark for a time. The current bearer of the Mark is the being known as Vandal Savage. Already an Immortal due to the energies of an alien meteor, claimed the Mark from its previous owner, the Comte de Saint Germain, in 1784.
Savage currently resides in the planet-sized battle-moon known as Warworld, doing the bidding of his master Darkseid.
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