In Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Requiem, a neonate is a recently embraced vampire that has passed through the initial stages of vampiric existence, the fledgling stage. It is the sire's responsibility to ensure that the childe does not embarrass itself or its sire in vampiric society. Derogatorily, a neonate is often called a whelp. After approximately a century of unlife (in VtM) or fifty years of the Requiem (in VtR), a vampire is called an ancilla.