Mirso Monastery is the last refuge of vampires no longer able to deal with eternal life and the outside world. As a last resort, a vampire can retreat here and take the Vow. More than a hundred vampires live within its walls, ruled by Rubius and the Elders. Its inhabitants chant the Four Meditations and the Nine Precepts to maintain their equilibrium while they starve their Companion of blood to diminish their need. With a weakened Companion they lose interest in life beyond the walls of the Monastery.
Located in the Carpathian Mountains near the tiny village of Tirgu Korva. The nearest cities are Sibiu and Horazu. It is reached by boat down the Danube. The traveler disembarks at the Iron Gate, an impassible section of rapids and travels overland up into the Transylvanian Alps in what is now Romania. From a narrow pass, the first glimpse of the Monastery makes it look like it is growing out of the mountain above Tirgu Korva. Mirso is build of translucent onyx stone, so that its spires glow in the moonlight. It is approached by a winding trail up which the local villagers bring supplies. They have been doing so for centuries. Journey to Mirso Monastery with Sarah Ashton in Sacrament.
The Source is the fountain infected by the Companion at the dawn of the human race. Mirso Monastery was built around it, and now it sits in the Monastery’s courtyard. One would think that with all its legend and its powerful effect upon the race of vampires they would have build an ornate shrine around it, or at least a statuary fountain. But the water burbles up out of a pile of great stones, translucent, like the Monastery itself and tumbles into a pool surrounded by a low wall of the same stone. There are no guards, no offerings, no indication that this is the source of their kind. Drink from the Source, or have its water seep into a cut, and the Companion has invaded your body. You must acquire the immunity inherent in the blood of a vampire or a horrible death will ensue. The Source first appears in Sacrament. Find out how the Companion got into the Source in The Companion.
The Vow is a process of renouncing life outside Mirso Monastery, and the use of the Companion’s power and embracing an ascetic life among the vampires of Mirso. Those who seek to take the Vow are called Aspirants.Allowing an Aspirant to take the Vow is not guaranteed. Rubius and the other Elders must be convinced that the seeker has shed earthly attachments and passions and has experienced enough of life to realize the consequence of renouncing it. The Aspirant can be refused the Vow, or asked to demonstrate his commitment to vampire society through acts of atonement.
Once the Aspirant has taken the Vow, he or she is never allowed to leave Mirso. Only by making the Vow absolute is it a genuine protection against the vampire’s needs and the suffering that an eternal life can exact on a soul. If it could be renounced, then it would not be a final protection. Rubius and the Elders would kill a vampire who tried to renounce the Vow, rather than letting him leave Mirso and rejoin the world.
In some ways, vampires need Mirso in order to know that if life becomes excruciating, and suicide is impossible, there is another refuge. That is why it is so important to them. One of the worse punishments Rubius can exact is to refuse a vampire the solace of ever entering Mirso to take the Vow. They have no protection against eternity without it.
Read about the Vow in Sacrament and The Hunger.
Rubius and the Elders at Mirso are the ultimate conservatives. They fight for the status quo. If someone disobeys the Rules, or the Elders’ command, Rubius sends out a Harrier to track down the offender and execute him or her. They are cold and fearsome warriors, trained by Rubius with special chants and preparations, to be stronger than other vampires and impervious to emotional pleas. Often he finds vampires traumatized or isolated from their kind and through complicated rituals of abuse, rewards, and spiritual incitement, turns them into soulless killers. Once a Harrier is set on a vampire, there is no other end possible but death.
Harriers figure prominently in Sacrilege and The Burning.