The State of the Clans

Brujah

In contrast to their American cousins, the Brujah of London have as much in common with the warrior-scholars of ancient times as they do with the leather-jacket-and-spikes wearing Rabble of the 21st century. Though still passionate and still provocative, they are as just likely to have been selected for intellectual and philosophical excellence as for the ability to beat someone’s brains in with their bare hands, and just as likely to frequent libraries and coffee-houses as to spend their time at raves and rock concerts. London has been fertile ground for both types of Brujah for at least the past two centuries, the home of iconoclastic thinkers like Hume, Locke, and Marx, as well as infamous countercultural icons like the fathers of the Punk movement.

To many vampires, it might seem odd to find the Brujah supporting — albeit in their own tempestuous way — Ventrue rule of London, but, to the clan elders in London, it makes perfect sense. The Gangrel and Nosferatu are disinterested, the Malkavians and the Toreador both plainly unsuitable, and the Tremere would bring a level of organization and regimentation to the praxis that would make even an old-line Idealist blanch. By supporting Queen Anne, the theory goes, the Brujah have bought themselves more freedom than they could expect any of the other clans’ rulership — except, perhaps their own, but the Rabble have never had an easy time deciding which of them would make a suitable replacement Prince.

So it is that the Brujah find themselves divided between those who believe it’s smart to enjoy the level of independence they have now and bide their time until the opportunity comes to take power in the Ventrue’s stead, and those who believe that that opportunity is already here and any further delay is either cowardice or stupidity. For the time being, the former group hold sway, but the latter are growing steadily in influence among the clan, and the time may not be far off when the Brujah abandon Anne to her own devices.

Gangrel

Only a few hundred years ago — not so long, as vampires measure time — the boroughs of London were not just boroughs but whole separate towns, villages,and small cities in their own right, separated from one another — and from “London” proper — by expanses of farmland or wilderness. Hyde Park was once so thick with highwaymen that King William III had the main road through it lit with oil lamps. In these times, the Gangrel were indispensable as messengers between the various petty Princes who claimed praxis over these many small domains, or, as time went on and the reach of the city expanded, between Mithras and his many lieutenants. Even today, the clan’s acknowledged members enjoy “the privilege of free and unimpeded passage through any territories ruled by the Prince of London” as a relic of the old days, and Anne has followed her predecessor’s lead in favoring them as couriers.

Of course, modern London is not congenial territory for many of the Outlanders. There are a few who make their home in the heart of the city, taking advantage of its parkland when they feel the urge to roam in the open, but the majority of the city’s Gangrel tend to live in the outlying boroughs, especially to the south of the Thames, and beyond in the Surrey Hills, the High Weald, and the South Downs. Some make their homes to the north, particularly in Waltham Forest and Enfield, but the conflict with the Anarchs has made that situation dicey at best. The local Gangrel are also well aware that Ruislip Wood is a stronghold of the werewolves, and will issue stern warnings to one another (or to other Kindred they think worthwhile) who are considering a visit.

Insofar as politics goes, few of the Outlaws have much involvement to speak of, on whatever side. Their mild support for Anne is more an artifact of the fact that she treats them with respect — “just like in the old days” — is willing to compromise with them when it comes to preserving wild and rural places, and represents the idea of the Camarilla that they have, however grudgingly, agreed to defend. Some of the older representatives of the clan feel a degree of personal loyalty to her, which is likely the main determining factor; there are some younger Gangrel who have entered the arena of Kindred politics in earnest, but, characteristically, they have little in the way of a unified agenda.

Malkavian

The history of the Malkavians in London is very much the history of madness in London. The city’s infrastructure of mental hospitals, debtors’ prisons, gaols and workhouses dating from the 1800s formed a troubled asset to the clan until they were largely closed in the 1960s. These institutions operated as self-contained towns; home to thousands, incorporating their own farms, laundries, gardens, ballrooms, sports pitches, wards and cells and, of course, surgeries, chapels, mortuaries and cemeteries. Ensuring that patients never needed to leave asylum grounds formed both a lockup and a safe place where ‘lunatics’ could be cured and ‘idiots’ taught and trained — it also made for many private kingdoms for the Seers who took advantage. 

The rise and expansion of the British Empire, its expanding influence, its height and its decline have all reflected in the broken-mirror psyche of Clan Malkavian; each World War fundamentally changed London at large and the Lunatics in particular. The waning of Empire leading up to the first and its collective psychological horror — what could be more insane than trench life under constant machine-gun fire? — made for a grand vision where no one’s idea of the world had any relevance or meaning. The second World War brought the horror more literally home, turning London into a very real vision of possible apocalypse in both the mortal and supernatural worlds. London’s mental hospitals swelled with the newly traumatized for over a century and a half: soldiers and their families, huge numbers of East Enders, the working classes and the poor. In short, it was a banner period for the Malkavians and their population grew to disturbing ranks that largely remain.

More recent times — notably the closing of most asylums in London since 1961 — have forced the Malkavians out of their former holdings and onto the streets. Some have found mortals who are looking for “meaning” of some kind in modern nights and they are, of course, willing to provide. Perhaps most frightening, a few have made their way into mortal governmental power structures, deviously pranking the system into constant low-level and self-perpetuating lunacies. Surprisingly, the clan’s leadership has held more or less firm in recent years under Bertram Shen, and the Seers have proved occasionally valuable in their way to the city’s Prince, providing obfuscated eyes and ears, unlikely diplomatic services and a sometimes-unpredictable source of insight to Anne in instances where she cannot afford to entrust the job — or tip her hand — to a Nosferatu.

Nosferatu

It’s an unusual city where the Nosferatu hold much power openly, but it’s an almost equally unusual one where they hold little power at all. In London they have quietly become perhaps the second most powerful clan — and there may be some truth to the notion that they rival or even surpass the Ventrue. The Second World War and the regular bombing of London drove almost every other clan in the city to bargain with the Nosferatu for safe storage of their valuables — or themselves — somewhere deep underground, and it drove a boom in subterranean construction that, while something of an inconvenience at the time, has vastly expanded the territory they have access to beneath the surface.

The great store of boons that the Sewer Rats accumulated during the war have ensured that they can generally get what they need from the other clans, but it has also presented them with some unique liabilities. The destruction of the old Primogen in the Blitz took resulted in the loss of many unique and irreplaceable items whose locations were kept only in his head, and while the clan has publicly maintained that all is well, they have been forced to quietly forgive several substantial boons when they were unable to locate things given to them for safekeeping. One of their worst fears is that the Kindred community at large will learn just how much is lost, and a common task for neonates is to explore unmapped areas deep beneath the city in the hope of recovering these lost treasures before their owners request their return.

That is, however, far from their only problem. Their extensive holdings in the underworld — more extensive than they’re prepared to admit — have brought them into contact, and sometimes conflict, with the other creatures that make use of the tunnels and vaults of Subterranean London. The more the undercity draws interest from others, the more care the Nosferatu must take to ensure that their activities below remain undiscovered.

Toreador

Every clan dreams of getting the kind of deal the Toreador have in London: pretty much everything they want, without any of the responsibility of actually doing anything. As solid supporters of the Ventrue — well, more or less solid, anyway; no artist can or should be completely consistent — they’ve been rewarded with control over the great majority of the city’s many museums, archives, and storehouses of art. They wield enormous influence over the mortal art establishment, whether it be theater, dance, literature, poetry, or the visual arts. And all they have to do in exchange is behave like civilized Kindred (which they were going to do anyway!) and show a bit of patience when the Ventrue start making speeches.

It’s not all roses and song for the Clan of the Rose, however. That some of their expansive influence is due to the Ventrue wanting to keep resources away from the Tremere, rather than just an acknowledgment that the Toreador are clearly the best qualified, is a small but significant sting to their always-considerable pride. That they’ve made deals on the side with those very same Tremere — to their own advantage, yes, although one never knows for certain with the Warlocks — is something that they’d very much prefer to keep under wraps. And while it’s true that the Ventrue generally don’t ask much of them, what they do ask is sometimes an irksome distraction from the more important things in unlife.

Still, at the end of the day, the Toreador are smart enough to know they have a good thing going, and that their unlives would be a good deal more aggravating under the Brujah or the Tremere than they are under the Blue Bloods. They’re also smart enough to know that Anne’s rule may not last forever, and they certainly aren’t going to go out on any limbs for her unless the alternative is worse. So far, that has almost always been the case, but it’s unlikely to remain so indefinitely.

Tremere

The Warlocks are more vulnerable than they would like to be, and are well aware of it. Long cordially disliked by Mithras and his progeny, the Tremere have always been reluctant to put themselves too far into debt to any other clan — particularly the Nosferatu. During the Blitz, this reluctance became a liability when German bombs struck the chantry — leveling it and in the process destroying not only the great majority of the clan’s collection of occult tomes, instruments, and records, but also the lion’s share of the London Tremere themselves, including all of their most powerful elders.

Rebuilding their presence essentially from scratch in the postwar period has proved to be a herculean task in a city where the remaining clans all have long-standing power bases and resources to draw upon. By essentially putting themselves in pawn to the Toreador, who hold control of most of the city’s museums and archives, the Tremere have been able to claw their way back to a position of security and constructed a new chantry in Walbrook, near the center of the city. Still, they remain the weakest of the seven major clans by a significant margin, weaker even than the comparatively city-shy Gangrel. Their position is not helped by the fact that Anne is not particularly fond of the clan — although officially sympathetic to their problems, she has not lifted a finger to offer them any assistance that has not been paid for in boons several times over.

As is almost inevitable in such cases, there are rumors that not all of the chantry’s hoard of knowledge was actually destroyed. Whispers continue to circulate that, with the connivance of the Nosferatu, the old Regent hid the cream of the collection away before meeting Final Death in the flames, and that somewhere deep underneath the city there are crates full of books and scrolls still waiting to be uncovered. Since the Nosferatu Primogen at the time also met his end shortly thereafter, there is no way to be certain whether this is true or just wishful thinking on the part of the Tremere — but no small number of neonates have vanished in pursuing these rumors.

Ventrue

The Ventrue have controlled London from time immemorial — Mithras has been (in name, even if periodically in torpor) Prince of the city for longer than either the Camarilla or the Sabbat have existed. Their hold on the city in modern nights is still firm, although less so under Anne than under her mentor, and the majority of vampiric influence over the mortal institutions of the city is securely in their hands. At first glance, London is an ideal Camarilla city, with the Blue Bloods ruling benevolently over the other clans and ensuring that each is able to contribute in their own way. Look closer, however, and a spiderwebbing of cracks in the foundation of Ventrue power is present.

Pretend though she might, Anne Bowesly is no Mithras, and where he could simply command, she must sometimes — though always quietly — bargain for cooperation. Three other clans are mostly reliable in their support, but each of them has their own self-interested demands: the Toreador wanting continued free rein over the city’s artistic and cultural establishments, the Brujah happy with the tolerance extended them by a weakened Ventrue administration, and the Nosferatu unwilling to see the clan that owes them so many boons from the Second World War fall from power. And so the Ventrue remain in power partly by ceding increased independence to those willing to support them, a process that they know all too well can only end in disaster.

But there is, for the moment, no alternative. Arrogant though she may be, Anne is no fool, and she’s brought some of the best and brightest political minds in the world into her clan’s service, hoping that they can help her reclaim the untrammeled rule over the city that her predecessor once held. And their clan still holds many advantages, both in power over the mortal world and in sheer vampiric might — to this day, many of the oldest and most powerful Kindred in the city are found among the Blue Bloods.

The Prince

See The Prince for information on Anne Bowesly.

Primogen

Brujah: Vaughn Richards

Vaughn was born and raised in Hackney in the late 1700s and returned there later in unlife, but not before a long career as a British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Having come up through the ranks — his was not a noble purchased commission — fighting for the French as a die-hard supporter of the original Revolution, he distinguished himself in Spain fighting in the Peninsular War. Embraced by a turncoat French Brujah who admired his protege’s bravery, firm stand on principle and complete lack of airs, Vaughn continued to fight the good fight deep in Lasombra territory and survived to return to London with a surprising arsenal of tactical tricks up both sleeves.

A born leader, Vaughn prefers to put himself in service to the Tower keeping a watchful eye on the London Camarilla’s foreign “entanglements.” His attention is usually consumed with the very borders of the city’s Kindred interests; vigilant defense against Sabbat incursions and other threats from abroad is a full-time job. Fortunately, his inner circle of trusted lieutenants keeps a closer daily eye on the Anarchs and other anti-Tower factions closer to home. A tall, rugged blond with a flinty regard, a strong jaw and a working-class affect, Vaughn is also in many ways the ideal of a European-cafe philosopher with a lot on his mind at any given time.

Gangrel: None Known

We have not yet defined a Gangrel Primogen at this time; this may or may not be an IC situation as well as an OOC one. If it becomes important, contact staff.

Malkavian: Bertram Shen

Born in Beijing in the early 1880s and an enthusiastic teenager by the time of the Boxer Rebellion, what’s known about Bertram is that he participated in the Sino-Japanese war, he claims to be invulnerable to “foreign weapons” — which may come from his family’s association with the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists — and that he is the son of Chinese and English parents. Having traveled to London originally to study and learn the imperialist ways of the colonial oppressors (as he puts it) Bertram found himself in debtor’s prison within a year, and a succession of psychiatric institutions after that, but he did at least pick up a flawless London accent and a so-far immortal unlife for his troubles.

A tall, lanky man with unsettling vintage mannerisms, he has a perpetually evasive air and a propensity for talking about the Emperor as if he still lived, about vast international capitalist conspiracies and returning to the motherland when the time is right. In the meantime, Bertram’s uncanny observational skills and his ability to see the long-term view of many situations — even if his nervous energies often lead nowhere useful — have established him not only as a formidable leader of his own clan and a sometime-close ally of Anne’s, but also the head of a coterie of envoys with many diplomatic and other talents under his direct influence.

Nosferatu: Bethany “Bess” Tavener (“The Under-Prince”)

No one calls her “Queen Bess” in Anne’s presence, of course, and they certainly don’t openly speak of her as “the other Prince” in the city but most of the Kindred of London are thinking it regardless. Embraced some time in the early 1800s, Bess is appropriately enigmatic and rarely shows herself except to meet with the other powers that be — just as well, considering she’s missing half her jaw, as well as most of the skin and a good deal of muscle from her arms. Add to that an almost unerring ability to nose out and make use of some really good blackmail material or the least political opportunity, and Bess makes for a generally uncomfortable presence at most gatherings.

She favors voluminously-sleeved white blouses and enjoys the effect on others at the sight of herself seeping through pristine white fabrics during high-intensity meetings with her peers who are, of course, forced to swallow the sight. Her network of spies and eyes is a sprawling but tightly-controlled system spanning the city beyond anyone’s confident estimation and the labyrinthine economy of boons she controls — some of them pre-dating the Blitz — is astonishing even by the standards of the Clan of the Hidden.

Toreador: Malcolm Bey (a/k/a William Kamara, William Ward, Ibrahim Bey)

Born in 1847 to Sierra Leonean parents who left him at the steps of Ashley Down Orphanage to depart for the American Gold Rush, William was a bright, beautiful boy with the initial promise of only a dismal future in London. Whether he was born under a particularly lucky star or a particularly nefarious one, he escaped the fate of child-labor workhouses and a life on the streets after being adopted by a London philanthropist with artistic aspirations. After a young life being endlessly posed and painted — some of the portraits still hang in the city’s museums — as “A Young Moor” and “Gambian Houseboy,” he gravitated to ballet and the stage.

While he was initially denied a career in the arts for the color of his skin, he was embraced by a Toreador with a much longer vision of the arts in Europe. After traveling for years with his sire, he took a stage name and was a longtime phenomenon on the Paris stage in the 1920s, then again briefy in America in the 1970s, before returning to London and retiring from the public eye to become a huge power behind the scenes in the art world. Stunningly handsome, charismatic, and also notably much larger than most dancers, Malcolm is on good terms with the Prince of London and his devotion to the arts is singular. He’s known for finding more appeal in the classical and enduring than the youthful and fashionable, and he keeps a hawkish eye on the cultural institutions — art museums, libraries, theaters, music halls, archives and churches — under his clan’s management.

Tremere: Margaret “Maggie” Monahan

Formerly the College Archivist at Trinity College Dublin, Chief Librarian of Oxford University’s Bodleian and Deputy Keeper of the Queen’s Archives for Royal Collection Trust, Maggie is a born archivist and, it’s widely assumed, a keen researcher. Embraced in 1943 not long after the Blitz, she’s spent the intervening years reestablishing the chantry’s ranks, lost archives and occult library. Her assumption of the primogenship is partly owing to her family’s Masonic connections — while this served the Tremere well in the immediate postwar era when that influence was needed in the formation of a new chantry, that accomplishment has faded over time and some whisper that her seemingly unambitious claim to leadership is now tenuous.

An outwardly bland older woman (and still a fan of formal tea) with a schoolmistress-librarian vibe and an air of long-suffering patience, to date she’s proved to be devoid of exploitable flaws and has wisely kept her head down; to date she’s successfully contained any potential attention the increasingly younger and more ambitious Tremere of the city might accidentally attract. Rarely seen outside the chantry in Walbrook — except for the fact that she’s sometimes spotted around Whitechapel fact-checking the Jack the Ripper tour guides — Margaret assiduously avoids the usual well-attended venues of Kindred nightlife and conducts her affairs as privately as possible.

Ventrue: Heath Clark (a/k/a Heath Francis Clerkenwell II)

Embraced in the heyday of 1960s London and educated everywhere in the world that matters to mid-tier British aristocracy, Heath is smart enough to understand that his position as the clan’s primogen has as much (or more) to do with the fact that he’s the Prince’s childe as the fact that he’s fairly deft at running Anne’s multiple business interests in Vauxhall, around the city and into the Continent. He presents himself so convincingly as a vapid upper-class and good-humored self-effacing non-entity that some Kindred around the city have ceased to wonder whether or not it’s all entirely an act. His financially conservative venture-capital entity — Pharos Asset Management, based in the financial heart of the City of London — basically runs itself, a good thing given how demanding his sire is that her own interests always come first.

What he appears to lack in strength of character he more than makes up for with his wide-ranging network of connections — supernatural and not — in the financial and bureaucratic worlds, no small accomplishment in a city like London. A blandly good-looking man of medium height, pale blue eyes and a slightly weak chin, he’s most often seen in and around Canary Wharf, the City of London and the City of Westminster, always under heavy protection and always distracted with business matters.

Other Offices

Dukes

An invention of Queen Anne, the rank of Duke in the Camarilla is peculiar to London. A Duke (the male title is used regardless of the holder’s gender) is the Prince’s designated representative for one of the thirty-two Boroughs of London, a kind of deputy who has been entrusted with managing the affairs of that particular borough. Within that borough, they speak with the Prince’s authority, and are answerable only to Anne — although in practice, Dukes who are not themselves also Primogen will usually defer to, or at least listen with respect to, those who are. A Duke is generally named only when there are matters in the borough that require more attention than Anne is able to devote to them — when Anarch or Sabbat activity is particularly intense, when a large number of neonates require education, when close attention needs to be paid to particular mortal projects, and so on. While some Dukes are suspected of having prolonged the problem they’ve been appointed to deal with in order to stay in power for a longer period, Anne has also shown herself willing to relieve and replace those who fail to carry out their responsibilities with dispatch …

Chancellor

The present Chancellor is Malcolm Bey, the Toreador Primogen.

Seneschal

The present Seneschal is Heath Clark, the Ventrue Primogen.

Sheriff

The incumbent Sheriff, Ben Padington, is one of London’s older Gangrel, who reportedly enjoyed a successful career as a highwayman before his Embrace. He is noted for his even temper, his dry wit, his complete ruthlessness, his obsession with remaining au courant with modern men’s fashion, and the the large and prominent fangs that are a marker of a past Frenzy.

Harpies

London’s Harpies are appointed by the Chancellor, rather than by the Prince directly. They are disproportionately younger Kindred (mostly ancillae and older neonates), and are most likely to be Toreador, although Ventrue and even the occasional Brujah or Malkavian have been selected from time to time.

Details of individual Harpies will be provided by staff as necessary and posted here thereafter.

Keepers of Elysium

Selection as a Keeper of Elysium is usually reserved for Kindred who have reputations for equanimity, for strict adherence to the Traditions and the customs of Elysium, and who are or at least make a good show of appearing disinterested in Camarilla politics. Elysium, after all, is supposed to be neutral ground, and a vampire who is strongly aligned with a particular faction, or who has made a large number of enemies, is unlikely to promote the sort of comity that’s usually desirable. On the other hand, from time to time a Keeper is selected specifically because they’ll make the right people uncomfortable; there’s no hard and fast rule.

Scourge

No one really likes a Scourge — at best they’re looked upon as a necessary evil. Anne has delegated the position to Alexander Edwards, an older Tremere from the Edwardian magickal revival period who has the misfortune to be completely devoid of talent for Thaumaturgy. In its place, he’s developed his physical Disciplines to a quite remarkable degree, and is more than capable of handing arrogant younger Brujah or Gangrel their own heads when the occasion arises.

Currently Recognized Elysiums

• The Circle of Lebanon in Highgate Cemetery, maintained by Clan Ventrue. The Keeper of Highgate is Joan McLynn, the childe of a Ventrue who fancied himself a rival to Anne; Joan hates the genteel decay of the cemetery and its morbid surroundings and would much rather be in central London, which, of course, is exactly why Anne nominated her to be Keeper instead.
• The Private Exhibitions space in the basement of the British Museum, maintained by Clan Toreador. The recently-appointed Keeper is Taylor Burroughs, a young and unreasonably handsome vampire with an eye for the ladies and a habit of appearing in public without his shirt. The rest of his clan is somewhat contemptuous of him, as he has little in the way of artistic talent and appears to have been Embraced solely to gratify his sire’s carnal desires, but at least he keeps the other Toreador from having to waste their time on the job.

Queen Anne’s court in Landmark Pinnacle is open to all Camarilla members in good standing and their guests who have been approved in advance, but it is not technically an Elysium and does not operate under its standards. The local customs and practices (see below) are still in effect, of course.

Laws of Elysium

• Elysium is a place for relaxation and socialization. Grievances between Kindred should be left at the door. You need not be friendly to your enemies; you must, however, be civil.
• Physical violence of any sort is strictly forbidden. If you want to fight, take it outside. This means all the way outside — the Toreador will not be amused if you walk out into the basement of the British Museum and start throwing punches.
• The use of Disciplines against other Kindred is forbidden. Any use of Disciplines is frowned upon, but those that don’t affect other vampires may not result in the offender being ejected.
• Feeding at Elysium is forbidden, unless the hosts have elected to provide refreshments. Feeding rights in the surrounding area (e.g., Highgate Cemetery, or the British Museum) are at the discretion of the clan maintaining the Elysium.
• Eat before you arrive. Kindred who have obviously not fed recently may be asked to leave.
• Non-Kindred guests must be cleared in advance with the Keeper of Elysium. Permission to visit one Elysium does not imply permission to visit others.
• Kindred are responsible for the behavior of their guests.
• Elysium is not to be used as a haven. At the end of the evening, all Kindred (with the exception of the Keeper and their personal guests) must depart promptly.
• In the event of a violation of these rules, action is to be taken by the Keeper, the Sheriff, or those they designate, and only these Kindred.

The Highgate Cemetery Elysium has the following additional rule:

• Anarchs who are prepared to respect the laws will be admitted and treated with the same courtesy as any other vampire as long as they are within the grounds of Highgate.

Customs and Practices

• Respect the Traditions at all times. Queen Anne is particularly strict when dealing with the Third, Fourth and Sixth Traditions (Progeny, Accounting, and Destruction) — any significant violation of these is likely to subject the perpetrator to a Blood Hunt. Minor violations of the Masquerade will probably be overlooked for exactly as long as it’s advantageous to the Prince or the Primogen.
• Boons and debts must be registered. The Chancellor is considered the final arbiter of whether a debt is valid and when it has been satisfied; the Harpies are deputized to record debts and arbitrate these matters in their absence. Boons are classified as Trivial, Minor, Major, or Life.
• The autonomy of other Kindred is to be respected. Imposing your will on vampires (e.g., with Dominate, Presence 4, etc.) is a violation of this practice, and the victim is entitled to demand a minor boon from the offender personally — or from the offender’s clan, meaning that the whole clan has a motivation to prevent this. Exceptions are made for a sire using Disciplines against their childe, for officers of the Camarilla acting in their official capacity, and for any other situation in which the vampire using the Discipline can convince the Harpies or the Chancellor they were unreasonably provoked.