The Anarch Movement

The Anarchs are not a Sect in the organized sense — they are a movement, a tendency, a perpetual state of rebellion against Kindred gerontocracy. They reject Camarilla hierarchy, reject the Sabbat’s violent theology, and insist that vampires should be able to exist without owing their unlives to Elders who claim dominion by virtue of age.

History

The First Anarch Revolt (1394–1493): The original Anarch Revolt was triggered by Elders who regularly diablerized their own childer to maintain power. Younger Kindred, led largely by Brujah, began killing their own Sires in response. The Revolt ended with the Convention of Thorns, which established the Camarilla and absorbed many Anarch demands — in exchange for the Anarchs agreeing to Camarilla law.

The Second Anarch Revolt (1940s–present): Renewed in the American West, most famously resulting in the Anarch Free States of California. The Brujah and other dissident clans carved out domains where no Prince holds authority. This is the movement as it exists in most modern chronicles.

The Anarch Free States

The Free States are the Anarch movement’s most concrete achievement: California (particularly Los Angeles) as an Anarch domain without Camarilla Princes or Elders in control. The Free States are not idyllic — they are chaotic, violent, and frequently exploited by strong individuals who simply replace old hierarchy with new. But they represent a proof of concept.

Baron: The Anarch equivalent of a Prince, but the title is deliberately downgraded. A Baron holds territory through force and respect, not inherited law. Barons can be removed.

Philosophy

Anarch ideology spans a wide range:

Idealists: Genuinely believe in a more egalitarian Kindred society. Some hold political philosophies (socialism, anarchism) carried over from mortal life. These Anarchs are often disappointed by the gap between ideals and Anarch reality.

Pragmatists: Don’t particularly care about ideology; just want to operate without owing boons to Elders and being under a Prince’s thumb. These are the majority.

Nihilists: Use the Anarch banner as cover for being answerable to no one. These are the Anarchs who give the movement its reputation for violence and instability.

Status in the Camarilla

The Camarilla tolerates Anarchs within its cities — barely. A Kindred who identifies as Anarch is not Blood Hunted on sight, but they receive no automatic protection, their boons are viewed with suspicion, and Elders treat them as troublemakers to be managed.

Anarchs who want to operate in Camarilla domains typically navigate a tightrope: participating enough to be useful, resisting enough to maintain their identity, not pushing far enough to become liabilities.

The Brujah Connection

The Anarch movement is predominantly Brujah in composition and flavor. This is not coincidence — the Brujah have the most direct historical grievance (Carthage), the temperamental disposition toward rebellion, and the street-level networks that make Anarch infrastructure functional. Non-Brujah Anarchs sometimes find themselves in a movement that feels like a Brujah franchise.

The Brujah elder/neonate split applies here too: many elder Brujah have accommodated the Camarilla, having learned over centuries that open rebellion is expensive. The Anarch fire tends to burn hottest in those recently Embraced.

Domain Types

Anarch domains do not follow a single model. The ten most common structures:

Status Perfectus

The founding charter of the California Free States. Domains that sign it declare:

1. Independence — free from allegiance to any other creature or organization
2. Self-rule — no Prince, Primogen, or ruler except those freely chosen
3. Solidarity — home offered to all Kindred of any generation or clan willing to dwell in peace
4. Obligation — pledge to assist oppressed Kindred in their struggle for freedom
5. Masquerade — responsibility to protect and defend the Masquerade
6. Recognition — acknowledge the Status Perfectus as binding on all signatories

Domains signing the Status Perfectus typically ban nonconsensual blood bonds. Discovery of forced bonding is grounds for swift, communal response.

Anarch Prestation

The Anarch alternative to the elder system of boons and debts:

• Immediate exchange preferred — Debts completed on the spot feel like honest bargains, not obligation traps.
• Money accepted — Accepting actual currency removes the mystified power dynamic of the elder boon economy.
• Consensual bonds — First-stage partial bonds between willing participants are not forbidden and are sometimes used to solemnize close alliances or partnerships.
• Vaulderie — The ritual method for breaking existing bonds. All participants add blood to a shared chalice and drink in turn. Destroys single-target bonds but creates weak Vinculi between participants. Required in many domains before accepting former Camarilla members. See Ghouls & Blood Bonds for full mechanics.

Progeny in Anarch Domains

Siring is not unilateral. Common governance models:

• Mass vote or elected committee — Domain approves or denies each Embrace request.
• Frankpledge compact — Groups of 6–13 Kindred are formally bound together. Each is answerable for the others. Embracing requires two-thirds agreement within the compact; if a member commits a crime, the whole compact is responsible for bringing them in or faces collective punishment.

New arrivals in most Anarch domains receive courtesy hospitality — freedom to feed at manageable levels — and are formally processed before any action is taken against them. Serious crimes go through an adversarial hearing before a neutral judge before Final Death can be pronounced.

Domain Governance Roles

Baron — Supreme ruler, elected or self-appointed. Holds territory through force and respect. Can be removed; has no institutional backing. A good Baron acts as facilitator of libertas rather than tyrant.

Chancellor — Executive of a parliamentary democracy, typically chosen by the prevailing faction. Similar to a mortal prime minister.

Reeve — Head of law enforcement. In democratic Anarch domains, powers are far less summary than a Camarilla Sheriff — must seek warrants and permits for searches, seizures, and arrests.

Sweeper — Kindred tasked with scouring the domain for new arrivals and reporting to leadership. Often regarded with suspicion.

Legate — Agent of a powerful Anarch domain (especially California cities) sent to allied domains as liaison, spy, and strongarm. Also called the Cheka.

Molotov — A traveling agent provocateur hired by some Anarch domains to harass neighboring Camarilla or Sabbat domains into negotiations while denying involvement.

Old Volunteer — A term of respect for one who distinguished himself in a revolt or war with other sects. In martial domains may form a separate voting body.

Warlord — Top military strategist. Some domains separate wartime leadership (Warlord) from peacetime leadership (called the “old man/old woman” or “red chief/white chief” in imitation of Cherokee governance).

La Libertad — A domain’s anniversary celebration. In California, typically held on Cinco de Mayo; in other places it corresponds to the date of the local revolution. Includes swearing-in of new citizens and rewards for brave deeds.

Compact / Frankpledge System

Many Anarch domains use a compact (also called frankpledge, cumann, circle, posse, krew) as their primary unit of civil organization. Six to thirteen Kindred are formally bound together, collectively answerable for each other’s actions.

• A member who commits a crime brings collective responsibility: the entire compact must bring the member in or faces punishment.
• Embracing a new Kindred typically requires two-thirds agreement within the compact.
• New arrivals may be assigned to compacts with open slots.
• The system creates mutual obligation and peer pressure across gang, clan, and age lines.

Anarch Backgrounds

Anarch Information Exchange

A global informal network allowing Anarchs to tap intelligence about specific vampires, local secrets, domain politics, and sect movements. Each dot grants one question per session. Storyteller determines quality and availability of information.

Types of available information:

• General data on a Kindred: contact information, generation estimate, known clan, lineage, reputation, political affiliations
• Brief knowledge on a topic: “What is Thaumaturgy?” “What does a black crescent moon mean?”
• Sect political events: “What’s happening with the Movement in Naples?” “Who has the Prince of Chicago placed under blood hunt?”

Rare or sensitive information may require a Manipulation + Subterfuge roll to negotiate, or spending 2 of the session’s uses.

Anarch Status

Reputation within the local Anarch community. Reflects memorable deeds and general popularity. May be rolled in conjunction with Social Traits.

Armory

A functional armory with maintenance capability. Scope varies by regional laws — consult Storyteller.

Players may pool Armory points as a shared Background. Maintaining the Armory without other Backgrounds (certain Influences or military Allies) risks official scrutiny.

Anarch Combination Disciplines

Combination Disciplines reflect the Anarch tradition of cooperative learning and sharing supernatural techniques. Most require having tasted the blood of those you extend benefits to.

Call Upon the Blood (Animalism •••, Auspex •••) — XP cost: 18. Spend 1 BP; roll Perception + Animal Ken. Sense the approximate number of Kindred and ghouls in the immediate area by feeling for the Beast in nearby creatures. Range: 1 success = room, 2 = house, 3 = ballroom, 4 = city block, 5 = entire estate. Aware Kindred/ghouls may feel their Beast react. Botch: caster frenzies.

The Humberside Panic (Celerity •, Thaumaturgy •) — XP cost: 6. Spend 1 BP (plus 1 BP per coterie member benefiting). For one turn, each designated member within sight may use the caster’s Celerity rating as if they possessed it themselves. Caster may extend this each subsequent turn at 1 BP per character per turn. Caster must have tasted the vitae of each recipient. Caster must pay all Celerity blood costs. Recipients must be vampires (not mortals, ghouls, or other supernaturals).

Internet Famous (Presence ••••, Thaumaturgy ••••) — XP cost: 30. Spend 1 BP + 1 WP; roll Charisma + Computer (diff 8). Summon all followers on the caster’s social media accounts simultaneously, as if each had been personally targeted with Summon. Mortals likely unaware of the supernatural compulsion. Individual recognizing the power may spend 1 WP to resist. Followers not currently online still feel the Summon via the sympathetic link established by following the account.

Quickshift (Protean ••••, Vicissitude ••) — XP cost: 21. When suffering any hostile action (attack, Discipline, ambush), spend 4 BP to instantly transform into the shape of a beast — no action cost for the next turn. Alternatively, spend 4 BP at the start of a scene to pre-load the effect; it triggers free for the rest of the scene (unspent blood points lost if unused).

Remote Access Buffer (Thaumaturgy •••••, special) — XP cost: 30. Over the course of a scene, encode a single use of a Discipline power into a digital file (email, text, private message) for a proxy to invoke. Proxy uses their own Traits for any activation rolls. File self-destructs after single use. Can create buffers for: Auspex, Chimerstry, Dementation, Dominate, Obfuscate, or Presence. Cost: normal activation cost + 1 BP per level of the power squared (stored). Only Kindred may serve as proxies.

Retain the Quick Blood (Celerity •••, Quietus ••• or Protean •••) — XP cost: 15. Blood spent on Celerity returns to the blood pool at 1 BP per hour. Blood cannot be returned above blood pool maximum — excess is lost.

Slenderman (Auspex •••, Obfuscate ••) — XP cost: 15. When aware of being photographed, reflexively spend 1 BP. The caster appears only as a nondescript humanoid silhouette in the image. For ongoing recording (webcam, video), spend 1 BP on the turn recording begins; continue paying 1 BP per turn to maintain the effect — unpaid turns reveal the caster’s identity.

Smiling Jack’s Trick (Dominate •••, Obfuscate •••) — XP cost: 18. Contested roll: caster’s Manipulation + Performance (diff = subject’s Intelligence + 5, max 10) vs. subject’s Wits + Subterfuge (diff 7). If caster wins, target transposes caster’s identity with another Kindred in line of sight — mistaking one for the other — for 1 hour minus 10 minutes × the subject’s Intelligence. Dominate-based: only works on equal or lower Generation targets.

Stonesight (Auspex •, Visceratika •) — XP cost: 3. Spend 1 BP. See through a 3-foot × 3-foot area of stone up to 3 feet deep for one scene, as if it were glass. The stone appears transparent from the caster’s side only — what’s on the other side cannot see the caster through it.

Suck It Up (Animalism •, Protean ••) — XP cost: 9. Touch a pool of spilled blood; draw it directly into the blood pool up to the caster’s maximum. Completely cleans the surface if the caster chooses. Does not require mouth contact.

Tenebrous Veil (Obfuscate •, Obtenebration •) — XP cost: 6. No roll required. As long as at least one square foot of shadow is present, the caster can bend it around her body and remain effectively unseen as long as she stays motionless. Combines the principles of Obtenebration and Obfuscate; simple but highly effective.

Anarch Elder Disciplines

Signature powers of Anarch elders — older in style than the tech-inflected combination disciplines, drawing on the brutal nights of the early Movement.

Alabastard (Fortitude ●●●●● ●) — Spend 1 BP. For the rest of the scene, the vampire ignores all wound penalties and movement penalties from damage suffered. The Storyteller may impose logical situational penalties for extreme injuries (bisection).

Oathbreaker (Vicissitude ●●●●● ●●●) — Spend 1 BP + 1 WP. Each BP of caster’s blood is imbued with the power to suborn a blood bond. The imbued blood retains this property for one night. A vampire who consumes it immediately ceases to feel the blood bond. This freedom lasts one month and one night. At the end of that period, caster may spend 1 WP to replace the suborned bond with an illusory bond to herself (lasts 1 night), or spend 10 WP in a single scene to sustain the illusory bond for 1 year and a night. If the caster does not renew at the renewal point, the original bond returns and the false one ceases immediately.

Scourging the Instinct (Presence ●●●●● ●●) — Roll Charisma + Leadership (diff 7). Those who hear the caster’s revolutionary speech allow their Beasts to rise and go into “Instinct mode” regardless of their actual Virtues (see V20 p.314–315). Number affected by success: 1 / 2 / 6 / 20 / everyone in immediate vicinity (auditorium, gathered mob). Dangerous — few modern Anarchs use it.

Tireless Tread (Celerity ●●●●● ●) — Spend 1 BP per night. Tread at 50 miles per hour. Minimum travel required: 8 hours (minimum 400 miles) or the power fails entirely. Creates no traceable paper trail — no tickets, plates, or records. If the vampire tarries excessively, the traveler’s rhythm breaks and the power fails.

Turnabout (Protean ●●●●● ●●) — Spend 2 BP. On the turn after melding into the ground, the vampire emerges behind or to either side of her enemies (caster’s choice). May also move up to 50 feet in any direction while underground in the single turn spent under the surface. Primary difference from Earth Meld: rapid emergence from a different position in the same turn.

Vengeance of the Martyr’s Legacy (Presence ●●●●● or ●●●●● ●●)

• Impulse variant (Presence 6): Spend 1 WP. All of the caster’s descendants make a Self-Control roll (diff 8) wherever they are — including those in day sleep.
• Mandate variant (Presence 7): Spend 1 WP. All of the caster’s descendants enter frenzy without a roll (may briefly subvert frenzy with Willpower as normal). Worldwide and unlimited in range.