Society
Kindred society — the Sects (Camarilla, Sabbat, Anarchs, Ashirra), social mechanics, and the Jyhad.
Kindred exist within a complex web of political factions, social obligations, and supernatural bonds. The main Sects govern (or contest) the vampiric world — from the Camarilla’s establishment order to the Sabbat’s crusade, Anarch autonomy, and the Ashirra’s Islamic world.
The Main Sects
| Sect | Alignment | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Camarilla | Establishment | Maintains the Masquerade; governs through Elysium, Traditions, and Primogen councils |
| Sabbat | Anti-Camarilla | Rejects the Masquerade; embraces Cainite identity; theology of diablerie and pack loyalty |
| Anarchs | Decentralized | Rejects both hierarchies; domain by merit; anti-elder politics |
| Ashirra | Islamic world | Dominant Kindred body of North Africa, Middle East, and Central Asia; neither Camarilla nor Sabbat |
Independent Clans (Giovanni, Ravnos, Assamites, Followers of Set) acknowledge no Sect as their governing structure, though they interact with all factions transactionally.
Others — Tal’Mahe’Ra, Inconnu, Laibon, and non-Cainite external factions.
Social Mechanics
| Topic | See |
|---|---|
| Blood bonds and blood oaths | Blood Bond |
| Ghouls, Vinculum, True Faith | Ghouls |
| Prestation — boon economy | Prestation & Boons |
| Diablerie and Generation | Diablerie |
| Red List — Anathema, Alastors, blood hunt mechanics | Red List |
| Hunters — organizations, Numina, True Faith | Hunters |
The Jyhad
The Jyhad is the covert eternal war waged between the Antediluvians — the Third Generation — using their descendants as pieces. Every Sect, every political conflict, every Blood Hunt may be a move in a game played by beings who have existed since before recorded history.
What is known: The Antediluvians are real. They sleep in torpor but exert influence through blood bonds, psychic manipulation, and the careful cultivation of pawns across centuries. The Camarilla officially denies their existence. The Sabbat exists to fight them. The Independent Clans navigate between both positions.
The Gehenna question: Gehenna — the prophesied end-times when the Antediluvians wake to consume their descendants — may be cyclical (a recurring event), imminent, already occurring in attenuated form, or a theological construct that was never literally true. Beckett’s Jyhad Diary documents evidence for all four positions.
Mechanically relevant implications:
- A vampire of low Generation may be an unwitting pawn of their Antediluvian without knowing it — blood bonds, Disciplines, and the conditioning of centuries
- Elders may be manipulating PC coteries without direct contact; what appears to be coincidence may be orchestration
- The thin-blooded (see Thin-Blooded) are considered Gehenna portents by many factions — making them targets across all Sects
- Diablerie of an elder may pass along that elder’s blood bond to a more ancient master, creating unwitting servitors several steps removed from the original source
The Antediluvians (known or suspected):
| Clan | Founder | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Brujah | Brujah (diablerized by Troile) / Menele (4th gen, awake) | Complex — lineage disputed |
| Gangrel | Ennoia | Believed awake, walking the earth |
| Giovanni/Cappadocian | Augustus Giovanni / Cappadocius | Cappadocius consumed by Augustus c. 1444 |
| Lasombra | The Keeper | Believed destroyed — or hiding in the Abyss |
| Malkavian | Malkav | Diffuse — may be the Malkavian Network itself |
| Nosferatu | Absimiliard | Active, hunting own descendants |
| Ravnos | Zapathasura | Destroyed in Week of Nightmares, 1999 |
| Toreador | Arikel | In torpor, communicates through art and dreams |
| Tremere | Tremere | Diablerized Saulot; may have contracted Saulot’s consciousness |
| Tzimisce | The Eldest | Believed to be the earth itself beneath Eastern Europe |
| Ventrue | Ventrue | In torpor, deepest of all |
Note: The table above reflects V20 metaplot. Individual chronicle continuity may vary.