Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

kindred covenants • the camarilla
have the easiest time of it, as their lack of tangible ties to covenants occasionally allow them
to escape notice. Some Kindred even count themselves as members of multiple covenants
— but only until they’re found out and forced to stop playing all sides against the middle.
More accomplished Kindred have diffi culty changing sides, usually because of the contacts
they’ve made or secret knowledge they’ve accumulated as a member of their original covenant.
Highly visible “defections” are usually the source of much gossip, and more than once have
been the foundation for ill will or even bloody vendetta.
The covenants are not necessarily in constant confl ict. Most cities contain members of all
of the major groups (or at least a few), and Kindred governments operate effectively with offi
cers and advisors from multiple factions. Like rival churches in ages past or political parties
in modern mortal government, the covenants often manage to coexist, yet they rarely agree
on any salient points.
Still, the simple fact that these covenants exist at all inevitably leads to discord. Even those
few Kindred who don’t want power for themselves understand why it’s in their best interests
to make sure that fellow covenant members hold as much authority as possible. Every faction
wants to be in control, and every covenant has different views on how the Kindred should
rule (and even behave). In most cities, this confl ict is covert, taking the form of political maneuvering,
espionage, sabotage, bribery, blackmail and the occasional assassination. In select
domains, this ongoing cold war heats up and covenants engage in open confl ict (as open as
possible for the Kindred). Much like mortal gang warfare, these confl icts are usually short
but exceedingly bloody. Such confl icts usually do not end so much as fade out when one or
all parties involved grow too exhausted to continue. The shaky peace that appears to result,
as the covenants are forced through attrition to coexist once more, often lasts only until one
of them regains suffi cient strength to begin the process anew.
COVENANTS AROUND THE GLOBE
The Kindred exist everywhere humanity builds cities and extends cultures. Vampires
cover the globe, and while their numbers are few in comparison to those on whom
they feed, their population is not so small that it can easily be regimented into neat
factions. The covenants described here differ somewhat from domain to domain. That
is, a member of the Invictus in London probably shares most of the primary attitudes of
a fellow Invictus in Detroit, but they likely differ on a great many of the details.
More importantly, other covenants beyond the major ones exist in various regions
throughout the world. The factions described here are the largest or most powerful, at
least in the West, but others exist in other cultures, in smaller communities and in Third-
World nations. The covenants here represent the majority of Kindred, and the greater
portion of Kindred power, but they do not account for the entirety of either.
It’s important to note that, while members of a given covenant tend to agree on certain
basic principles (and often ally with one another against outside rivals), plenty of tension and
enmity exists between members of a single covenant. In fact, in those cities where any given
covenant dominates, intra-covenant rivalry is actually more common than inter-covenant
rivalry. Invictus Kindred compete with others in the Invictus, Carthians struggle with rival
Carthians, and so forth. A vampire’s covenant allegiance is a good indicator of certain political
and philosophical beliefs, but anything else is questionable.
THE CAMARILLA
In nights long past, all of vampire society united under one common banner, at least as far
as the Western World was concerned. This organization was known as the Camarilla, cor-
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