The Camarilla
The Camarilla is the most widely influential organization Kindred history has ever known. Its stated purpose is to preserve the Masquerade, an elaborate veil of deception pulled over the eyes of the living to hide the existence of the Kindred. But the Camarilla is so much more. It is a conspiracy to preserve the power of the elders, an undead secret society influencing global business and politics, the closest thing the Kindred have to a system of government, and an international union of cities akin to the United Nations – complete with a central inner circle and a cadre of justicars and archons traveling the world to “keep the peace,” answering to nameless masters. The sect maintains a fierce moral stance on preserving humanity in the face of the impulses of the Blood, seeing themselves as the shepherds of the blind human throng – simultaneously morally superior and inferior to their short-lived subjects.
The sheer age, power, and wealth of many Camarilla members, and the recent exclusion of the Anarchs from their ranks, makes the sect distinctly upper class. These are the monsters that hide behind $5000 cocktail dresses, meticulously tended stock portfolios, and havens guarded by blood slaves in private security uniforms. They are the one percent of the one percent and they hunger for more. Their pawns are placed in banking and in Congress, making deals and passing bills. They are masters of disinformation, propaganda, and blackmail, never leaving a loose end untied for long. These nights, there is a lot of tying to do, but the Camarilla does not hesitate to lay ruin to human lives and Kindred unlives to protect the secrets of their influence. To most members of the Camarilla, Caine is just a myth, a metaphor for their curse, rather than a historical individual. That said, many still cling to their Christian, Jewish, or Muslim faiths like straws in a storm, trying to find meaning and purpose in their unlives. The Middle Eastern counterpart to the Camarilla – the Ashirra – is entirely based on using Islam to temper the murderous impulses of the Blood. Still, ancestor worship is a widespread and accepted practice in the Camarilla, with ancient methuselah like Mithras and the Dracon serving the function of saints. In some clans the Antediluvians have become objects of veneration – imagined as the embodied ideals of their bloodlines.
PRACTICES AND ORGANISATION
A Camarilla city is run in the fashion of a feudal court, even if their gatherings may look more like slick boardroom meetings or rough gatherings of criminal cartels. The hierarchy is absolute. At the top, we find the Prince, a creature impressive or cunning enough to be acknowledged as the absolute leader of their domain. Below them are the members of the Primogen Council – representatives of the major Camarilla factions in the area. Whether they are clan elders or a gathering of those who hold the largest hunting grounds, they speak directly to the Prince, who will do best by listening to their advice. More than one lord has been ousted by their own council. Some princes choose a seneschal, who acts as a personal advisor or replacement when the Prince is unavailable. When needed, the court gather in secret sanctuaries known as Elysiums, often changing locations to maintain absolute privacy and using a myriad deceptions to hide Kindred affairs from mortal scrutiny. Elysia accommodate feasts, ceremonies, negotiations, and heated debate, protected and directed by the Keeper and their heralds, also known as harpies. One may be hidden behind the dark rooms of an upscale fetish club, another in an otherwise unused nuclear bunker, a third in the Guggenheim’s Brancusi collection at night. Order in the domain at large is maintained by a sheriff, gendarme, constable or whatever law enforcement term is used locally. They are usually more hitman than cop, and summary justice tends to be the norm as the Camarilla frown on modern ideas like due process. If you get dragged before the Council to plead for mercy instead of chained beneath a sunroof, you’ve been lucky.THE UPPER ESCHELONS
These kindred are the real power behind the Camarilla and are its policy makers. Neonates, Ancillae, and even other Elders may uphold the Traditions, play political games, and even quaff rare vintages of bloody nectar while a string quartet plays nearby. But they are not the ones making decisions and are nothing compared to the big bosses in the shadows. These august Kindred know how to hide from even their own membership. An Archon will simply arrive in a domain to cut off the Sheriff's head without even giving a reason. If the Justicars want to build a church to this new idea of worship that has sprung up, it is the others who will find themselves building a whole bunch of things without even knowing why. The true powers can raise a Kindred up or destroy them with a thought, and their names remain shadowed.The Inner Circle
It is difficult for anyone to piece together the truth of the Camarilla's long, colorful history, when so many gaps intentionally exist. These are things such as new Traditions passed but swiftly abandoned, a clan receiving an invitation to join our sect but burning the bridge before crossing for no apparent reason, or even much surrounding its past involvement with the Setites. Perhaps the greatest mystery surrounds its greatest masters. The Inner Seven were once the lords of their lands but nobody dare indite their names these nights. They conceal their identity behind law, needed cruelties and exactions are thus enabled. Without a target, revenge cannot be aimed, resistance cannot flourish. The orders come in whispers in the Blood, sudden certainty within the Justicars, a brief feeling of talons gripping the neck. It is even unknown which clans comprise the Inner Circle and whether they may number from those outside of the sect.The Justicars
With only five clans inside the Tower for now, the five Justicars take on even more responsibility... and power. They must represent their clan, decide matters of war and law, and act as the voice of the Inner Circle. Above all, they enforce the Traditions. A Justicar descending on an unprepared Prince in a loosely held regnum - well, harpies still whisper about what happened "when the Veil came back down hard in San Antonio" and who wound up under it when Petrus visited in 2006. Justicars act as monarchs of their clans, appointed by the Inner Circle to 13-year terms. Few, save the Ventrue, serve more than one. Justicars may command any of the assets and resources of the Camarilla at will, including every member of it. Whether such exactions seem more like a valuable honor from royalty or a loathsome theft by tyranny depends on the Justicar's etiquette, and on whether it was your childe and haven they confiscated.Current Justicars
- Juliet Parr, Justicar of Clan Malkavian and former Sheriff of North London
- Molly MacDonald, Justicar of Clan Nosferatu
- Diana Iadanza, Justicar of Clan Toreador and Bane of Clan Gangrel
- Ian Carfax, Justicar of Clan Tremere and former Archon of Karl Schrekt
- Lucinde, Justicar of Clan Ventrue, named "Justicar for Unlife" in 2018
- Clans Gangrel and Brujah were represented by Geoffrey Leigh and Manuela Cardoso Pinto, respectively, until their clans departed the Camarilla.
- Rumours abound of a neutral Kindred soon to be appointed as Justicar of Outsiders, representing antitribu and officially unaffiliated clans.
The Archons
Archons are not simple hired killers. Archons are elite hired killers. And warriors, and scholars, and investigators. Each Justicar hand-selects their own Archons, even competing for exceptional servants. The candidate Archon gets one chance to decline. If they accept, they serve the Justicars, enforcing Camarilla law, seeking out secrets or spying out the foes of the Tower. Some Archons operate alone, others in coteries. Often, the Justicar binds these Archons to themselves, or to each other, with a Blood Bond. Even unbound, the Archons have less freedom of action than their masters - but they can order a Kindred put to final death, and expect to be obeyed. Indeed, an Archon can decimate an entire domain or regnum without explanation. Learning to avoid such punishment, or at least to avoid such Archons, remains an exercise in loyalty and survival.THE SIX TRADITIONS
The Six Traditions form the core framework for governance among the Kindred. While they are interpreted in wildly different ways and given various attention by individual princes and councils, they are ancient customs that no initiated Camarilla Kindred is unaware of. Even if they were, ignorance is no excuse for breaking them. Founded: 10/23/1493 Founder: Hardestadt the Elder Current Leader: Hardestadt the ElderStructure
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