In order to provide new players with a bit of extra background required to create their character, we hereby offer the first level of 'Sabbat Lore'.
Note: Your character needs to have this lore on their +sheet in order to be IC-ly aware of this information.
Sabbat Lore
This section is locked to those with Sabbat 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.
Sabbat Lore 1
You understand the social and power structures of the Sabbat on a basic level. Sabbat vampires live and operate and travel in packs of anywhere from three to fifteen members. These packs are referred to as "covens", and each is led by a "priest". The Sabbat have their own set of "Traditions", which focus on codes of honor and loyalty to the Sabbat. The leaders of the Sabbat typically have religious titles: bishops, archbishops, prisci, cardinals, etc., and Sabbat social interaction is steeped in ritual.
You are aware that the Sabbat was formed sometime in the Middle Ages, and that it grew quickly. Unlike the "Traditions" of the Camarilla, The Sabbat focus on codes of honor and loyalty to the Sabbat. The members of The Sabbat are have a pervasive fanaticism that prevents them from betraying their cause as easily as the often-survivalist or resentful members of the Camarilla. They value freedom, self-determination, and unity - namely, letting vampires be vampires.
Indeed, the Sabbat are rumored to embrace and celebrate their vampiric natures, and believe that the Camarilla is wrong in seeking to conceal it and maintain a fagade of humanity. To the vampires of the Sabbat, mortals are food - dangerous food that has to be respected - but food nonetheless. Their world is vampire-centric and does not rely upon influence in the mortal world, though they are adept at gaining mortal worshippers, footmen, and slaves.
Your understanding is that the conflict with the Camarilla is driven by the Camarilla desire to prevent Masquerade breaches, and there can be no peace because of these fundamentally different views. The conflict with the Camarilla has never been initiated by The Sabbat itself, but that the Camarilla is on the offensive, seeking to destroy the rival movement and retain its own power and ideology.
You have heard that the leader of the San Diego Sabbat is Archbishop Lucio de Montes de Oro, a vampire of some power.