History of the Kindred
The First Murder
All Kindred histories begin with the myth of Caine. Cursed by God for killing Abel, Caine was marked and banished. Alone, he drank blood to live. Angels offered him mercy; he refused. He sired childer, then slew them. From his cursed line came the Antediluvians — founders of the clans.
Whether literal or legend, the tale endures. The Camarilla dismisses it as myth, the Sabbat preaches it as gospel, the Anarchs mock it while fearing its truth.
The Antediluvians & Clans
Each Antediluvian carried the curse forward. From them came the clans, each stamped with its Disciplines and bane. They built empires in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome. They were worshiped as gods, demons, kings, monsters.
The Antediluvians warred with one another. Their progeny plotted against them. Cities fell, dynasties rose, the Blood carried forward.
The Long Nights (Dark Ages)
In the medieval world, vampires ruled boldly. Princes held courts like mortal lords. Some ruled whole cities, hiding little from the kine. The Blood ran freely: open hunting, open wars, open cruelty.
But boldness breeds backlash. Mortals rose in fire and faith. The Inquisition burned thousands. The Burning Times scarred all clans — even elders perished in flame.
The Anarch Revolt
By the Renaissance, neonates rebelled. Tired of tyranny, they rose against elders. Some diablerized their sires, others declared cities free. This revolt birthed the Anarch Movement, and in response, the elders forged the Camarilla — a pact of secrecy and order.
Camarilla: Tradition, Masquerade, rule by elders.
Anarchs: Defiance, rebellion, freedom.
Sabbat: The sword of Caine, rejecting Humanity, reveling in holy war.
These divisions still shape Kindred politics.
The Masquerade & Modernity
The Camarilla’s greatest achievement was the Masquerade — secrecy as law. It kept vampires alive through Enlightenment, science, and revolutions. Mortals forgot the monsters that hunted them.
Yet modernity is no easy age. Cities grew vast, neon lit the nights, information moved faster than whispers. Elders grew paranoid, neonates reckless.
The World Wars
The 20th century brought blood on a scale unseen. Vampires fought in shadows — some as officers, some as spies, some simply feeding on chaos. Cities burned, domains fell, elders vanished into torpor. The wars cracked the Masquerade but also proved how easily mortals explain away horror.
The Second Inquisition
In the 21st century, Kindred arrogance brought their near-undoing. Digital leaks, surveillance programs, and careless secrecy exposed traces of vampire society. Governments and churches struck back.
London fell.
Vienna’s Tremere Chantry burned in fire from the sky.
Courts across Europe and America collapsed overnight.
The Camarilla pulled inward, more secretive and draconian. The Anarchs surged outward, claiming domains abandoned by elders. The Sabbat disappeared eastward, fighting the Gehenna Crusade.
The Modern Nights
Now, the Damned exist in uneasy balance:
The Camarilla rules fewer cities, but more tightly.
The Anarchs thrive in chaos, fractured but numerous.
The Sabbat are bogeymen, absent but feared.
Independents maneuver quietly — Banu Haqim joining the Ivory Tower, Hecata guarding necromantic secrets, Ministry seducing Anarchs.
Thin-Bloods multiply, signs of weakening vitae — or the end of days.
Every night is shadow war. The Masquerade holds, but just. The Beast prowls in every heart. Prophecy whispers that the Antediluvians stir.