Sects

Classic WoD: | Vampire: The Masquerade | Clans (Masquerade) | Sects | Coteries

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"Thy domain is thine own concern.
All others owe thee respect while in it.
None may challenge thy word while in thy domain"

-The Second Tradition: The Domain

Sect — a vampire’s political and philosophical affiliation — is ostensibly a matter of choice. If a Cainite dwells in a Sabbat city, however, she’s almost certainly a Sabbat member whether she wants to be or not, and a vampire in a Camarilla-held city had better have an exquisite explanation if he chooses not to honor the word of the Prince.

Each Sect has a dogma and an objective its members seek to attain. Being broadly distributed organizations populated by creatures as selfish as vampires makes a Sect’s nature in each city a unique thing. Some Sect dominated cities might be paragons of their organization’s virtues, while other pay only lip service to Sect creeds.

Sects

The Anarch Movement

Localized and sporadic, without any real central organization outside the individual cities where it establishes itself. In fact, the Camarilla considers the “Anarchs” under its own purview. The central tenet of the Anarchs is that rule by elders is an outmoded concept, and that Kindred domains should be governed by merit, with a fundamental respect for the individual Kindred. Effectively, the Movement seeks to redistribute the power in domains from the hands of the old elite into a more equitable arrangement. Many Anarchs style themselves as revolutionaries, willing to do whatever it takes to strip power from the corrupt old guard who hoard it. These are no utopian domains of happy Kindred-kine relationships. These are petty kingdoms ruled by individual undead lords of whatever territory they can seize.

The Camarilla

Holds up the Traditions as the highest authority, with a figure known as the Prince acting as the ultimate authority to both interpret and enforce those laws in each domain. First and foremost, the Camarilla sees its role as maintaining the Masquerade. The Camarilla considers itself a well-heeled Sect of genteel vampires, and the term Kindred originates with it, in the idea that all members of the Camarilla are peers in the same august organization. Of course, the social hierarchy of the Camarilla is an elaborate construct, and vicious interpersonal politics and ancient grudges shape the nightly affairs of the “Ivory Tower.”

Icconu

An enigmatic elder Sect about which little is known. Indeed, it seems less of a cogent Sect and more of a confederation of Kindred who seek the state of Golconda, a sort of redemptive transcendence of Damnation. The Sect rarely has more than one or two Kindred in any given domain, and territory acquisitions don’t appear to be part of its agenda. What the Sect formally wants — if anything — remains unknown, and speculation runs rampant as to their origin.

Sabbat

Holds an apocalyptic outlook, believing that the time for Gehenna is nigh, and the Ancients will soon rise from their graves and devour their errant get. It has little regard for the Traditions other than immediate self-preservation, and its domains are hellish urban warzones where people may well have seen vampire activity but simply chalk it up to the weirdness and horror of the World of Darkness. The Sabbat believes that ultimately, vampires must assert their place over the mortal world instead of hiding from it, if they are to survive the fangs of their creators. Part fanatical death worshippers, part millennial doomsday cult, the “Sword of Caine” is neither subtle nor tolerant.

The Tal’Mahe’Ra

A bizarre paranoid conspiracy of a Sect that spends little time in contact with the other factions of Kindred society. Very little is known about the “True Black Hand,” and some Kindred consider stories of its existence apocryphal. Its stronghold lies in the Underworld, the realm of the dead occupied by ghosts of things long lost to the modern world.

Autarkis

Not every Kindred belongs to a Sect, nor swears fealty to a Clan, Prince, Bishop, or other such entity. These Autarkis often lead solitary unlives not unlike hermits or outcasts. The lot of the Autarkis is unique in every case — what drove her into self-rule, and why does the local Sect allow an individual to flout its primacy?