Sects and Clans at Nelly’s By Night

Kindred in the World of Darkness have various organizations and sects they claim membership in as a matter of pride, politics, or convenience.

More about all of the sects and clans discussed below can be found in Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, as well as the Camarilla and Anarch books.

The Camarilla

The Camarilla is the most widely influential organization Kindred history has ever known. Its stated purpose is to preserve the Masquerade, an elaborate veil of deception pulled over the eyes of the living to hide the existence of the Kindred. But the Camarilla is so much more. It is a conspiracy to preserve the power of the elders, an undead secret society influencing global business and politics, the closest thing the Kindred have to a system of government, and an international union of cities akin to the United Nations – complete with a central inner circle and a cadre of justicars and archons traveling the world to “keep the peace,” answering to nameless masters.

The sheer age, power, and wealth of many Camarilla members, and the recent exclusion of the Anarchs from their ranks, makes the sect distinctly upper class. These are the monsters that hide behind $5000 cocktail dresses, meticulously tended stock portfolios, and havens guarded by blood slaves in private security uniforms. They are the one percent of the one percent and they hunger for more.

A Camarilla city is run in the fashion of a feudal court, even if their gatherings may look more like slick boardroom meetings or rough gatherings of criminal cartels. The hierarchy is absolute. At the top we find the Prince, a creature impressive or cunning enough to be acknowledged as the absolute leader of their domain. Below them are the members of the Primogen Council – representatives of the major Camarilla factions in the area. Whether they are clan elders or a gathering of those who hold the largest hunting grounds, they speak directly to the Prince, who will do best by listening to their advice. More than one lord has been ousted by their own council. Some princes choose a seneschal, who acts as personal advisor or replacement when the Prince is unavailable.

When needed, the court gather in secret sanctuaries known as Elysiums, often changing locations to maintain absolute privacy and using a myriad deceptions to hide Kindred affairs from mortal scrutiny… Order in the domain at large is maintained by a sheriff, gendarme, constable or whatever law enforcement term is used locally. They are usually more hitman than cop, and summary justice tends to be the norm as the Camarilla frown on modern ideas like due process. If you get dragged before the Council to plead for mercy instead of chained beneath a sunroof, you’ve been lucky.

From Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, White Wolf Entertainment

The Anarch Movement

The unbound are all those vampires who fall outside the Camarilla. The Anarch Movement in its various forms is a subset of the unbound and also their most visible manifestation. Many seek to escape from the Camarilla’s control by hiding. But the Anarchs have decided to fight back, attempting to conquer and control domains originally held by those who would claim themselves their masters. And why not? The Camarilla’s elders are being called to the Middle East by the Beckoning, and the Second Inquisition has destroyed princes and primogen all over the World. The number of elders dwindle while there is a new crop of hungry, ambitious Anarch licks every year.

The word on the street is revolution. No more compromises, no more politics, no more trying to make deals with the Camarilla. The Movement has finally escaped the centuries-long lethargy it fell into after the Convention of Thorns and the formation of the Sabbat, but that time is now over. The Anarchs have remembered how to fight, galvanized by the Camarilla’s great betrayal in being at fault for the Second Inquisition.

The Movement is different in each city. Sometimes an Anarch city has a ruler called a baron. More commonly, it is led by gangs who each have their own territories. Some cities are currently divided between the Anarchs and the Camarilla – both sides itching to take over. Where the Camarilla influences human society from the outside, the Anarchs have burrowed deep inside. Many maintain mortal identities, perhaps even families and jobs. This makes them simultaneously more vulnerable and more secure. Vulnerable because they are in contact with their surroundings every night, and sure to make mistakes. Secure because the Anarch is never the vampire lord in a mansion on the hill. They’re the DJ in the nightclub, the terrifying cop from internal affairs, the junkie creeping outside your window.

From Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, White Wolf Entertainment

The Unbound

A vampire who remains outside the larger Kindred society of a given city, either by ignorance or choice. Usually considered an Anarch by members of the Camarilla, though most unbound have nothing to do with the Movement.

From Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, White Wolf Entertainment

The Sabbat

The Sabbat is a sect of vampires that rejects humanity, embracing their monstrous nature. They are currently believed to be engaged in the Gehenna War (hunting the ancestors of all Kindred), having left or been driven out of their holdings in the West.

Once the Sabbat held cities and territories around the globe in its talons. The new Inquisition has burned them out, the Anarch Revolution has not spared the Black Church, and a wave of ambitious young Kindred desperate for their own domains have braved and battled them everywhere. However, at this tipping point, at the moment of its seeming defeat, the Sabbat perhaps becomes more dangerous than it has ever been. As the sect disappears from the map, it re-emerges as a shadowy force seemingly everywhere and nowhere. The real terror comes from experienced Sabbat agents, freed from the necessity of running a big organization. They can now focus on what they do best: striking fast and hard, spreading fear in the service of the Dark Father.

In the modern nights, the Sabbat is the vampire bogeyman: the monster who seeks to destroy everything you ever built for reasons inhuman and unfathomable.

From Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, White Wolf Entertainment

Kindred clans are derived from the childer of the first vampires embraced by Caine – if you listen to ancient tales. Each of the third generation possessed specific talents they passed on to their childer and their childer to their childer. Each clan has gifts and a bane, perhaps an echo of God’s own curse. The clans played or available at Nelly’s By Night are:

Brujah

Embraced from the ranks of those sympathetic to counterculture and revolution, the Brujah seek allies who question normative ideas and gravitate toward the underdog. Unfortunately, their blood simmers with barely contained rage, exploding at the slightest provocation.

Gangrel

Outcasts, wanderers, rogues, and hunters, the Gangrel defer to no authority, believing accomplishment and merit the only measures for respect. Unlike the other clans, they visibly wear the struggle with their beasts, often appearing animalistic.

Lasombra

The shadows long lurking in the darkness of the Sabbat, the Lasombra are rumoured to have now switched sides and joined the Camarilla. As likely to be priests as gangsters, they have no time for weakness – only power and excellence.

Malkavian

Gravitating towards people that interpret dreams, perceive spirits, or predict future events with unerring accuracy, but are otherwise broken and isolated from mortal society. Whether preexisting or drawn out by their embrace, all Malkavians have derangements.

Ministry of Set

Formerly known as the Followers of Set, the Ministry is seen as much cult as clan, adhering to a uniquely disruptive system of beliefs, fighting a war of morality and ideas against the legacy of Ra and the One God. Known and abhorred as tricksters, enticers, and liars, the clan has had a history of playing all sides in conflicts of the great sects.

Nosferatu

Despite their outward appearance, these Kindred are considered the most humane of the clans, often becoming shepherds to those living on the fringes. During their embrace all Nosferatu undergo excruciating physical transformations into their monstrous guise.

Toreador

Drawn from among the ranks of accomplished artists, both new and faded, the Toreador are at their strongest when comprised of those who seek experimentation and aesthetic discovery. However, they desire beauty so intensely that their search can become all-encompassing.

Tremere

After the Second Inquisition destroyed the Vienna Chantry, the once-mighty Warlocks and vampiric thaumaturgists of the Tremere find themselves scrambling for any vestige of influence amongst the Camarilla clans.

Ventrue

Long acknowledged as leaders of the Camarilla, the Ventrue hold more positions of power than any other clan and tend to embrace politically or financially powerful kine. Accustomed to only the finest, the Ventrue are cursed with rarefied palates, restricting the vitae they consume.

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