Clans

 

Tracing their lineage through millennia back to legendary founders, the families of vampires organize themselves along their lines as clan s — vampires who share common heritage, abilities and weaknesses. Each clan claims descent from one of the near-mythical Antediluvians, the grandchilder of Caine and progenitors of the vampiric race. The predilections and curses of these Antediluvians, it is said, mark each member of the clans. As a result, the members of given clans often share similar tastes and potentials. 

Further removed from the clans and Antediluvians are the bloodlines. While technically any lineage of vampires may be considered a bloodline, the term (in common parlance) refers specifically to members of a peculiar sub-clan, a grouping of vampires with common powers and interests like a clan but lacking an Antediluvian founder. These bloodlines are small and rare; indeed, few neonates are even aware of their existence. However, any clan can be humbled and brought to the level of mere bloodline should its Antediluvian be devoured and his power stolen by a claimant to a new clan — a process that has happened more than once in times past.

In nights of old, clans would only Embrace new members along fairly strict lines; only those with enough aptitudes and tastes corresponding to their prospective clans’ predilections would be considered as candidates for unlife. The cosmopolitan modern age has changed this exclusivity, though, as it does to all things. Now vampires are Embraced along broader lines, and knowledge of a particular vampire’s clan does not necessarily bring a corresponding knowledge of the individual’s strengths, weaknesses and interests. Many young neonates, embraced for some potential outside of the clan’s normal interests, rebel againstthe stultifying influence of the elders, taking up habits and alliances against all expectations of clan.

Occasionally, some new fledglings are abandoned by their sires, knowing little of the clans or the ways of vampiric society. These clanless, referred to as Caitiff, are often a threat to the Masquerade, and they rarely survive without instruction. Some vampires claim that such weak-blooded mules lack identifying clan characteristics and upbringing, and thus, they herald the coming End Times. These paranoid vampires hunt the clanless ones whenever they can.

 

Bloodrights 

Carrying the strengths of the founders, each clan holds certain particular strengths and weaknesses. These characteristics pass from sire to childe; in some rare instances, these characteristics do not manifest fully, but most often, a childe holds the same potential as the sire (limited, of course, by weaker generation). Bound together by blood, each member of a clan shares certain predilections. A vampire’s clan dictates the Disciplines that come most naturally. Though the Curse of Caine bestows a wide range of capabilities, the specialized powers of vampires manifest in different propensities among the clans. Thus, each clan or

bloodline has three signature Disciplines, powers that are most common among members of that line and that come more easily than others.

Conversely, each clan also passes on certain weaknesses and frailties to its childer. This effect may manifest as faults in personality, temperament or disposition; in others, more mystical traits or even physical alterations appear. These weaknesses often tie to some apocryphal story of the clan’s founder, usually of some failing or curse on that luminary.

Because clan members tend to be Embraced due to similarities in disposition and interest to the clan’s areas of expertise, most vampires of a given clan share certain abilities or benefits. As a result, a vampire’s clan also offers particular advantages that are common to all members. Even those individuals who are Embraced outside of a clan’s normal range are instructed or assisted quickly in developing these benefits. It is always the choice of the individual whether or not to follow such direction.

 

Allegiances

The Camarilla and Sabbat claim the nearly exclusive membership of certain lineages. Among the Camarilla, the six clans of the Brujah, Malkavians, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere and Ventrue predominate. In the Sabbat, leadership and the bulk of membership is claimed by the Lasombra and the Tzimisce, though a good portion of the sect is made up of antitribu members of the other clans.

The Assamites, Followers of Set, Gangrel, Giovanni and Ravnos are largely independent, with the majority of their individuals holding membership in neither sect.Among the bloodlines, individual vampires are so scattered and rare as to make any sort of sectarian classification pointless, and allegiances break down to an individual basis. The elusive Cathayan vampires of Asia are not known to conform to any clan, either, and indeed, they do not even claim any relationship to Caine. What this disavowal bodes is unknown to western Kindred.

 

The Camarilla

Founded in the late Dark Ages to resist the fires of the Inquisition, the Camarilla relies on the Masquerade to hide vampires from humanity. As the largest global sect of vampires, the Camarilla offers prestige to the elders and security to the youth. In theory, all vampires are invited to join the Camarilla, but aside from a few expatriates and loners of other clans, only six clans have real membership. Among the member clans of the Camarilla, representation comes through a member of the Inner Circle and the appointment of a justicar. Other clans or bloodlines of vampires may nominally have members, even officers such

as princes or primogen, but without an Inner Circle member and justicar, their true clout in the upper halls of the organization is limited. 

 

The Sabbat

For centuries, the elders of Cainite society maintained a rigid status quo over their childer. The elders retained positions of power and influence, keeping the younger Cainites trapped in relative impotence and servitude. The formation of the Camarilla only exacerbated this relationship, as the elders banded together to support their own authority. Obviously, the existence of hordes of neonates, itching for advancement and giddy with their own vampiric power, created incredible friction between the generations. As the Dark Ages closed with the Renaissance and the newer, larger cities and populations of Europe, the number of younger, dissatisfied and educated vampires increased. Finally, matters came to a head in the Anarch Revolt, where hordes of the younger Cainites, fired by their mistreatment at the hands of their elders, rose up and

destroyed the institutions of their society in wholesale rebellion. 

Eventually, the Camarilla crushed the Anarch Revolt, the Convention of Thorns forming an uneasy truce between anarchs and Camarilla vampires. Still, many Cainites remained outcast due to their heinous crimes against the Camarilla, or retained a desire to overthrow the organization. Bolstered by early successes and the discovery of ancient Tzimisce rituals that bonded them together into unified packs, these vampires formed their own organization, the Sabbat. Though a thorn in the side of the Camarilla at first, the vampires of the Sabbat recruited dissatisfied younger Cainites in their war and overtook more

territory and control. 

In the modern age, the Sabbat stands in direct opposition to the Camarilla. Though only one-third the size of the Camarilla, the Sabbat makes great strides in taking territory, partly because it flouts the Traditions and partly because its fanatically motivated and loyal packs destroy the disorganized Camarilla individuals. Members of the Sabbat seek to overthrow the hold of the elders and, ultimately, the Antediluvians. The two pre-eminent clans of the Sabbat, the Lasombra and the Tzimisce, are held in great esteem among their sect for their successful destruction of their own Antediluvians. However, many vampires

of other clans also ally with the Sabbat, becoming antitribu or “anti-tribes” in opposition to their original blood heritage. The Lasombra and Tzimisce are the most common clan members of the Sabbat, but a fair number of antitribu claim allegiance in the never-ending war to overthrow the elders, establish the rule of vampires over the kine and shatter the illusions of Cainites who hold on to their lost humanity.

 

The Independents

The Camarilla claims the allegiance of six great clans, the Sabbat’s core comes from two — but what of the other five? These other clans call no sect master, instead charting their own courses. For them, their own key philosophies, often intertwined with the mortal beliefs of their homelands, are the only guiding principles necessary.

For several hundred years, the Assamites, Followers of Set, Giovanni and Ravnos were the only four independent clans. Recently, though, the Gangrel left the Camarilla en masse, taking up a neutral position once more. Whether the Camarilla’s shaky foundations will further erode, or whether a new clan will take the Gangrel’s place, remains to be seen.