In order to provide new players with a bit of extra background required to create their character, we hereby offer the first 2 levels of 'Camarilla Lore'.
Note: Your character needs to have this lore on their +sheet in order to be IC-ly aware of this information.
Camarilla Lore
This section is locked to those with Camarilla Lore. You will be able to read the pages that are locked to your level of lore or below. To know more, buy the lore. There are likely to be updates in the future, and these should be announced, but check regularly just in case.
Camarilla Lore 1
You know what the Camarilla is: it is a loose organization of vampires, something akin to an Undead United Nations. The basic rules, structures, and characteristics of Camarilla society are known to you. You are familiar with the Traditions (+news undead/traditions), the set of laws that govern the vampire world, and know that there really is only one alternative to Camarilla society, and that's joining the inhuman monsters of the Sabbat. Some vampires pretend to rebellion, but even though the elders call them "anarchs," they are as much a part of the Camarilla as any, the "drunk uncles" of the family - an embarrassment. All families fight, and some fights are even extremely unpleasant, but so far the Camarilla and the Sabbat have remained the only two viable options for a vampire in search of society.
You are aware that the Camarilla is ultimately ruled by a council of elders called Justicars, leaders of the seven clans who oversee the Princes - elders who rule the individual cities. Although unsure of the mechanism by which they became Justicars, you know that there is one of each clan. Perhaps they simply declare themselves for the position?
The true leadership of the Camarilla, however, is the Princes - those elders who wield dictatorial authority over a specific city or region. Their authority derives from the Second Tradition: Princes rule under the Traditions and wield immense power. Los Angeles used to be ruled by a single Prince - first Old Prince Rodrigo, then Emerson after Rodrigo's disappearance - but it is now split into eight separate domains under the Treaty brokered by one of the Justicars.
You know the identities of the eight Princes of Los Angeles. (See +news domains.) You also realize that some Princes are more equal than others in this city. You understand that the Princes usually have other vampires who enforce their will and enforce the Traditions, and that these other vampires are called "Sheriffs."
You know enough to pick up the latest gossip among the Camarilla's chattering classes, as well. (See +help social/rumor.)
You know the names of some of the more prominent elders, as well: Harrison Mayfair - Primogen of Hollywood, Emory Masterson - Former Seneschal to Prince Emerson and Primogen of Griffith Park, Levi - the Nosferatu Elder of Santa Monica and also Primogen of Venice, and William Cafliaglon, the Ventrue Primogen of Santa Ana, and certainly a few others. Los Angeles is one of the largest, most populous cities in the world, both for mortals and vampires, and it takes all kinds.You also know a little of prestation: It is a formalized system of favors, something watched very carefully by those concerned with social status. A boon is a publicly recognized promise to perform some sort of service. (See +news systems/prestation.) With your current knowledge, you should offer a boon to any vampire, friend or foe, of whom you need to ask even the smallest favor. You should not expect the same courtesy to be extended to you by any vampire older or of greater status or station than you - rank hath its privileges. If there is anyone whom you actually outrank, you may be able to ask small favors without offering a boon, but it is uncertain ground and may offend.
Camarilla Lore 2
By now you are wise enough to realize that not even the most trivial favor requires a boon — even amongst friends. Prestation is more than just a series of favors, it is both a system of currency and status: boons can be traded and exchanged in return for favors or other boons. It is part of the social glue that keeps the Camarilla together, and even some anarchs embrace it.
You know that the Justicars enforce their will through agents called Archons - a sort of a vampiric police - and that there is an archon in the city. You also have access to at least general information regarding nearly every vampire in Los Angeles - at least insofar as they relate to Camarilla politics and power structures. (See +help char/bg) You also understand that "Primogen" is a somewhat flexible title, a term from antiquity used to identify powerful or prominent vampires. In modern times, it has come to also, simultaneously, be a term for an appointed position under a Prince, or even a clan representative to the powers that be. The first definition predominates in Los Angeles.
You are savvy enough to realize that the Traditions are actually somewhat flexible, and that the Prince often uses that flexibility to increase his or her power. The Traditions are sweeping and broad - they do not dwell on minutiae, and that gives Princes and their allies great leeway in interpreting exactly what sort of behavior qualifies as a breach of Tradition. The check on this power, of course, is the willingness of the other vampires in the city to recognize the Prince's authority. A Prince has power, but its use is a balancing act. There is a line beyond which a Prince cannot stretch his or her authority, and knowing where that line is can mean the difference between life and death. Of course, the vast powers that some elders have at their disposal can push that line out quite far, indeed.
You also understand that the "anarchs," as they are called, walk a similarly thin line between rebellion and conformity. It is possible, if one works hard at it and is careful not to step too far, to get away with a certain amount of misbehavior without being severely punished. No Prince can monitor and micromanage an entire city. But there is a line, and knowing where that line is can mean - you guessed it - the difference between life and death.You have heard of the main threat to the Camarilla. Some call them devils. They are more formally called the Sabbat. This sect is composed of depraved vampires who engage in unholy blood rites, creating hordes of vampires who are enslaved in powerful bonds of blood to the ones that create them. The elders of the Sabbat are some of the most inhuman, beastial vampires who have ever existed. These elders are apparently so removed from their inhumanity that human blood no longer nourishes them. The brutal indifference of these powerful elders means that the vampires upon which they feed have a high mortality rate. The need of these elders for vampire blood and the blood bound loyalty of their childer is why the vampire hordes of the Sabbat never cease trying to conquer the Camarilla. The elders of the Sabbat are in all ways insatiable.
Under cover of World War II, the Camarilla waged a brutal campaign to destroy the Sabbat, and the success was near total. The ancient strongholds of the Sabbat in Europe were eradicated entirely, and the surviving elders of the devil sect were pushed into the jungles of Africa, Central America, and South America. The Sabbat did not stay in the jungles for long.
In 1947, the Sabbat counterattacked worldwide. By the early 1950's, the Sabbat claimed all of Africa except for South Africa and the coastal cities of Northern Africa, as well as most all of South America and Central America. In Europe, the Sabbat was dramatically less successful, restoring their dominance only in areas of Scandinavia. The devils also took San Diego, their only conquest in North America.
This worldwide war between the Sabbat and Camarilla concluded in 1957 when the devils were decisively defeated by the vampires of Los Angeles. Since then, there has been an active cold war, while each sect seeks a decisive advantage over the other.
Until Year-7, it was believed that all of South America had fallen to the Sabbat. But in Year-7, word escaped South America that an Elder Gangrel was Prince of Buenos Aires, preserving most of Argentina from the Sabbat hordes. Argentina remains under regular onslaught from the devils, and some say only the survival of this enclave in South America has kept the full weight of the devil sect from falling upon Los Angeles.
As an aside, you don't know anything about vampires in Asia. You have never heard of any vampire coming or going from that continent.
This excerpt stops here. If you wish to know more? Buy Camarilla Lore 3…
