by kish_k@mindspring.com

Blank pages: I’ve stuck to Clanbook conventions when writing this, and one such convention is that every chapter begins on an odd-numbered page, with an art page facing it. However, there is no art in this book, due to both lack of artistic ability on my part, and lack of knowledge of PhotoShop. Accordingly, those pages which would be pure art pages in a Clanbook are blank here.

Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Presence. This isn’t what any "official" write-up gives the Ventrue antitribu, but I feel it makes more sense, and so it’s what I use. This book can be used with either "official" Discipline combination; just ignore the Flaw "Throwback."

Paths and Virtues: Again, my Sabbat is rather different from the official one, and I don’t have enough of a feel for the Path of the Feral Heart to know how the Ventrue antitribu would think of it. However, the different Paths and Virtues should be fairly easy to translate into what fits anyone’s version of the Sabbat.

Special Thanks to:
Shweta "Warrior Princess" Narayan, for arguing me to a standstill about pretty much everything.
Bryan "Path of Re-emergence" Rendell, for contributing to my version of the Sabbat without ever knowing it.
Joe "Inner Voice" Iglesias, for suggesting a quote.

Chapter One: Freedom

I clench my teeth to avoid shouting as Darius turns casually away from the body of his dead packmate. Scanning the faces of the assembly, I see no one else looking as shocked or outraged as I feel; instead, all the others are strolling away.

"Why?" I want to scream at Darius, but I can imagine what the result would be. Instead, I scan the throng until I see my sire, Amy, and go over to her.

"Am I missing something?" I ask her. "He did just murder his packmate over a kine, didn’t he? How–"

"Not here," Amy breathes, grasping my arm firmly. "Back at our haven. I’ll explain it all there."

"That upset you," Amy says quietly as she turns one chair to face another and sits in the first chair, gesturing me to the other.

"He killed his packmate — for a kine," I sputter, wondering what I’m missing. The detachment everyone has been showing is starting to get to me. Amy leans forward and tells me, "It wasn’t really about the kine." Leaning back in her chair, she says, "Define freedom for me."

"Freedom is — the right to do as you choose, as long as you respect others’ rights."

She smiles, showing her Vicissitude-perfect teeth. "Very good," she tells me. "That last part — as long as you respect others’ rights — is essential. Darius is a Harmonist; his Path requires him to care, even about lesser beings. Of course, that doesn’t mean all of us should avoid hurting humans, that we do not injure the sensibilities of our Harmonist brothers and sisters — not a bit of it!" She laughs, tossing her hair. I’m reminded again of how I first met her. She still appears as she did then, like an innocent, beautiful, vulnerable young human. Fixing me with her eyes, she continues, "But what Simon did, torturing a kine to death in front of Darius — that wasn’t about Simon’s freedom. That was about a lack of respect for Darius and his Path. Simon meant it as a challenge; Darius responded — appropriately. Everyone there understood that. Indeed, had Darius not killed him, everyone would have known Darius was a coward."

I blink, adjusting to this viewpoint. "Not about the kine," I repeat slowly.

"Not in the way which matters," Amy shrugs. "It’s simple, really. If you hurt a kine for — scientific research, it’s your business. If you take up social work, spending your spare time helping hungry kine get food, it’s your business. If you kill a fellow Sabbat for torturing a kine, it’s murder. If you kill a fellow Sabbat for trying to help kine," her voice clearly indicates the incomprehensibility of any sane vampire trying to help kine, but she finishes, "it’s murder. If you kill a fellow Sabbat who was provoking you, in a properly sanctioned Monomacy duel… it’s justice. Only the strong can be free, and if we cannot treat our brothers and sisters with respect, we are as weak as the Camarilla.

"Respect," I repeat the word. "All those of our clan I’ve met put so much emphasis on this. Most of the others talk about freedom and loyalty, but not respect.

She frowns slightly. "It’s an essential part of our clan’s ideology — but don’t generalize too much. Stereotypes can be useful, but not nearly enough to make up for the danger. Every other clan loses much to them, even the ones you’d think would know better. Inside the Camarilla, the Nosferatu make sure to humiliate every Toreador they can, even Toreador neonates who never considered laughing at a Nosferatu. This makes sure every Toreador who makes it past a century never misses a chance to put down a Nosferatu again. And so it goes. Some of those outside our clan recognize that freedom and loyalty both depend on mutual respect.

"What if a fellow Sabbat does not treat you with respect?" I ask, thinking of the Lasombra.

Her frown deepens. "There can be no respect which only goes one way. If one of your fellow Sabbat treats you with disrespect because of an error you have made, act to correct that error. If another vampire treats you with disrespect because of something beyond your control, such as bloodline, lineage, gender — talk to her. Try to make her see."

"And if she cannot see?"

Amy draws one fingernail across her throat, in a gesture that would be quite meaningful enough even without the bright red line that follows her finger. She tilts her head back, making sure I see, then the cut on her throat closes gradually. "All vampires are equal," she tells me quietly. "All. All generations, all clans, all bloodlines, the Panders — all deserve to be judged on their own merits as individuals. That is one of the guiding principles of the Sabbat. Anyone who says otherwise is a traitor — or a fool. Fools can be convinced of the truth. Traitors die."

"It’s not always that easy," I protest. "No priest would agree I had grounds to fight a Monomacy duel with every Lasombra who snubbed me. And even if I could— "You’d get smeared all over the ground by one of the elders?" she suggests dryly, then laughs. "Of course no one expects you to go out and beat up any Sabbat whose actions are unjust. Pointless bravado is not considered a positive quality in our clan. Survive and succeed. Believe me, when we act, it will be as a clan, with careful, well-thought-out precision and perfect unity…and the Lasombra will cease to lead the Sabbat."

I can’t quite suppress a start at her words. She rises to her feet. In that moment, she doesn’t look innocent, vulnerable, or even remotely human. "Oh, come now—it cannot be a surprise to you," she says sharply. She walks over to her chessboard and starts playing with the pieces as she speaks. "Even with the Lasombra, I do not generalize. Some can be good friends. Some are worthy to stand with the rest of us in the Sabbat. None are worthy to stand above us, and by ‘us’ I mean more than the Ventrue antitribu. The number of Lasombra who would accept a Sabbat where they did not get to dictate to the other members, who would accept truly being our equals, who have any real belief in freedom, or any loyalty to anything but their own power…few. Very, very few. As individuals, they deserve the same consideration as all other Sabbat. As a clan?" She gently lifts one of the chess pieces—a black king—into the air, then abruptly clenches her hand around it. I watch as the king explodes into fragments in her hand. The hand opens, letting the particles fall to the floor. "Dust," she finishes succinctly.

As Amy quietly resumes sitting next to me, she seems to shrug off the seriousness of the evening. "But that is all for later," she says, once again appearing harmless, but for the memory of that flash of terrible power. "In the meantime, I had a few kine from the club brought here and strung up in the next room. Their bodies are full of…alcohol. Let’s make an even out of it.

Chapter Two: Truth

Our true history as a clan is brief indeed. While we have accounts that date from before our split from the Ventrue clan, I have deliberately excluded anything that the eldest of those who now stand with us could not personally confirm the truth of. I make no apology for this; our ancestors are perhaps the greatest liars and hypocrites of the Cainite race, and their accounts are apocryphal, to say the least. One thing we can learn from the conflicting (and, probably, all false) accounts of Carthage is that false information is far more debilitating than an honest "I don’t know." As for what is here…it is confirmed enough to satisfy me, but you are encouraged to take it with as much salt as you like.

This is where it all started, with the young Brujah and Tzimisce. The Brujah objected to being abandoned to the tender mercies of the Spanish Inquisition when their elders went into hiding. The Tzimisce objected to being thrown into suicidal battles against the Tremere, used as cannon fodder by their elders. They banded together, calling themselves "anarchs," setting out to destroy all the elder vampires and set the young ones free. At first, the elders of the thirteen clans laughed at them. Then, they were joined by young Gangrel, Malkavians, Nosferatu, Ravnos, Toreador, even a rare few Lasombra and Ventrue (our ancestors). They managed to arrange a temporary alliance with the Assamites. And suddenly they weren’t so funny anymore.

As near as I can figure out, the Lasombra elders were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mind you, the Lasombra nowadays claim their Antediluvian wanted to die and deliberately set himself up. Hardly any Lasombra will admit his clan was not in total control of any situation—ever—but our best evidence indicates that if the anarchs had first come upon the Toreador Antediluvian, say, that would have been the first Antediluvian to fall. In any event, what we can (mostly) agree happened goes something like this: one childe of Lasombra named Gratiano diablerized his sire, either because he believed in the anarch cause or because he saw an opportunity for power. Most of the other Lasombra quickly changed sides once their Antediluvian fell. Tzimisce was, by this time, much too attached to his homeland—and much too arrogant—to run. One Tzimisce anarch called Lugoj Blood-breaker, the inventor of the Vaulderie ritual that we practice today, fought his way into the Antediluvian’s sanctum. Many other anarchs fought at his side, and there was an epic battle with Tzimisce’s defenders, but Tzimisce himself never woke from torpor, not even when Lugoj sank his fangs into Tzimisce’s neck and diablerized the Antediluvian. This was the finest hour of the anarch revolt. We now had three full clans on our side, and there was every sign that we could continue in this fashion until all the Antediluvians were dead. Then we could have created an ideal world, a world in which all vampires treated each other with respect and none could force another’s will. At least in theory. I’m not sure how well it would have worked in practice.

In any event, we never found out, for we’d underestimated the Antediluvians’ cunning. Our parent clan was responsible for organizing the resistance to our movement; the Tremere helped them make their plans, the Toreador were the first to support them, the Brujah elders came back out of the woodwork to ally with them. In the end, the elders of seven clans supported them. We had all the Assamites, Lasombra and Tzimisce on our side, and we had some Ravnos (the bulk of the clan avoided the fighting altogether), but the Setites offered their support to neither side, and the Cappadocians…well…the Cappadocians were being eaten by their childer. (Yes, you have heard of the Cappadocians; you just didn’t know it at the time. Their descendants call themselves Giovanni now.) We were close to evenly matched, the elders and the anarchs. We fought for years and years, but finally…we lost. Oh, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The fact that we’re still here attests to that. However, they definitely had the upper hand, and they offered us surrender terms. For the most part, we could join their new organization, or "camarilla" as they called it. If we surrendered to them, we would be Blood Bound to the Camarilla’s Inner Circle, but we would receive no further punishment. Many chose to surrender. The Brujah—they stopped being our leaders then, because so many of them caved in and joined the Camarilla. The Assamites surrendered for the most part, but refused to accept the Blood Bond. Instead, they negotiated terms with the Camarilla, terms which are well known to you.

Some from each clan, however, rejected the Camarilla’s terms. The Lasombra, anarch Ravnos, and Tzimisce—none of them surrendered, for their different reasons. None of our ancestors surrendered. Of course, there were never that many of us—the eldest of us was and is five steps removed from Caine. But all there were were completely dedicated to the anarch ideals—besides which, Clan Ventrue has never been much for leniency to traitors; we had little to go back to. We resolved to continue fighting. As long as there is blood in our bodies, we will fight the "Camarilla" and its corrupt, oppressive power, for our own sake and that of all our brothers and sisters. What happened then? We fell back. The Lasombra wanted to stand and fight, but we—the anarch Ventrue—knew that would be suicide. At that time, in that place, we had already lost. We pushed for a strategic withdrawal, and the Tzimisce supported us. Finally, we did indeed retreat from most of Europe. We developed new tactics and made new allies. We named ourselves the Sabbat, for we had been created, albeit inadvertently, by the human Inquisition. Our membership increased to include vampires of all thirteen clans, save only the Giovanni. Those who claimed membership in our Sabbat though their clan’s loyalties were elsewhere started calling themselves antitribu. Joseph Pander, with our help, forced the Lasombra to give his clan equal rights. This was all the good news. The bad news was that the Lasombra were easily the most numerous of all the anarchs now, except possibly the Tzimisce, who did not choose to stand against them. They claimed almost every leadership position, and they became, as they are today, fully as corrupt as their ancestors had been.

For six hundred years, we’ve been in the Sabbat. Six hundred years of watching the Ventrue rule the Camarilla. Six hundred years, and it seems we’ve finally managed to clean the stain of our ancestors’ actions from our hands. Tell a Pander that our clan kept the Caitiff down, and he’ll stare like you said the sky is falling. Tell a Sabbat Brujah that we should be his enemies, and his laughter will be heard for miles around. Six thousand years since the first Ventrue "princes" claimed territories and began striving to enforce their rule on other vampires, and it seems the more thingschange…the more they stay the same. Only now, here, it’s the Lasombra who hold the chains. The Brujah antitribu, the Gangrel antitribu, the Panders…they look to us to lead a revolution. We owe them, for all our ancestors put them through. And so we oppose the Lasombra, as strongly as we oppose the Camarilla. The Lasombra are strong and devoid of honor. Those who stand against them are accused of treason, framed for assisting the Camarilla, sometimes outright murdered. But in the end, they will lose, because in their hearts, the other clans know we want the best for all of us; they know the Lasombra want the best for no one but the Lasombra. We could destroy the Lasombra tonight, if we were willing to pay the price, but we’re not. We could win another civil war, without external interference, but as it stands, the price for starting one would be the fall of the Sabbat and the final victory of the Camarilla—and the Antediluvians. For now, we act with more subtlety because for now, we have no other choice, but believe me, the Lasombra will not rule the nights forever.

Chapter Three: Honor

The Ventrue antitribu regard organization—all organization—with a suspicious and wary eye, having seen what "organized" clans such as the Lasombra and Ventrue True Clan are like. Accordingly, they are deliberately as disorganized as they can be without becoming completely ineffectual. There are no "leaders" of the Ventrue antitribu; the main goals of the clan are agreed upon, and each individual clan member chooses how to pursue them. Since Ventrue antitribu ideology states that any power that one gains benefits all, they cooperate better than any other bloodline, with the possible exception of the Nosferatu. A fair number of Ventrue antitribu choose to ignore the clan’s larger goals entirely and spend their unlives doing as they please; however, even these ones never act to the clan’s detriment.

*Cain
This Path, like the kine religion it developed from, suffers from a fundamental lack of logic. No one currently exists who can claim to have met Caine and is remotely trustworthy, so followers of this Path try to pattern themselves after what is essentially a myth.

*Cathar
This disgusting Path holds honor and loyalty as flaws. It would have been better if it had never become an accepted Sabbat Path. Those who follow this Path are lost to any worthwhile cause; we must prevent them from doing any damage. Far too many of our clan follow this Path; that is their right, but as long as they choose it, they deserve nothing but contempt.

*Death and the Soul
They’re weird. That’s a compliment—normal is bad. Few of our Clan choose this Path, but those who do are certainly welcome to it.

*Evil Revelations
This Path is forbidden—for excellent reason. Its followers willingly enslave themselves to demons and work to force others into slavery as well. They are anathema to everything our Sabbat truly stands for.

*Harmony
Here in the Sabbat, we accept that we are not human. This gets twisted when those outside, especially the despicable elders of the Camarilla, speak of us. They call us "beasts," they call us "monsters." What they forget is just how twisted humans can be. Being inhuman and being immoral are two completely different, unrelated things. The followers of this Path are never deliberately cruel. Do not make the mistake of thinking this means they’re weak; most of them are deadly in battle, and when they see killing is necessary, no other Path’s followers can act with more determination or less hesitation. Still, few of our clan find this Path’s tenets to their satisfaction.

*Honorable Accord
Most of us follow this Path, as I do myself. It is, after all, the ultimate form of our beliefs: our personal honor is more important than anything, save the good of the Sabbat. It is our duty to make the Sabbat what it can be, what it was originally intended to be, for the sake of all vampirekind, and over the dead bodies of as many elders and Lasombra as care to get in our way.

*Lilith
The main difference between this Path and the Path of Caine is that the things followers of this Path do cannot be logically explained independently of the Path. That makes them seem, at the least, sincere in their beliefs. However, their actions appear quite insane to those not on this Path. I think I’m glad so few of our clan find this Path appealing.

*Power and the Inner Voice
This Path’s followers include our best friends and our worst enemies inside the Sabbat. Few of our Clan follow this Path, but if you meet one who does, treat her with respect and loyalty, and she will offer you the same.

Auspex
Exactly how it is that we gained skill in this Discipline, rather than the Dominate Discipline practiced by our ancestors, is unknown. There is much speculation about it, but in any event, it suits us. We do not desire to force others to obey us. With this Discipline, we can discern if the potential for choosing to support our goals exists within an individual’s heart. Also, it helps us select childer, since we have no desire to be as elitist as our parent clan, and cannot afford to Embrace as many total idiots as…some others do.

Fortitude
This is the only Discipline that remains exactly as our ancestors practiced it. It helps keep us undead. It is purely defensive, and that suits us too, for we do not consider ourselves warriors. Many consider this cowardice, but we do not care. There is no courage in choosing to use force where another tool would work better.

Presence
We still practice the Discipline of Presence, but our powers have changed since we split from our parent clan. Compelling others to obey against their will is wrong, and we have no desire to learn a way of doing that. Those who are blind should be helped to see, and that is what our Presence can do. Those who knowingly choose evil should be destroyed.

* Awe: No change
** Dread Gaze: No change
*** Inspiration
A vampire with this power is capable of inspiring his/her allies to great deeds. Anyone who is presently working toward and believes in the same ideals as the vampire can tap amazing reserves of inner strength. This can affect any being, but only works on those who actually are working toward an ideal shared with the vampire—temporary alliances against a common foe won’t work. The most common subjects are the vampire’s pack.

System: The vampire rolls Charisma + Leadership. The first success gives one ally one extra point of temporary Willpower for one hour. Each additional success can be used either to add one hour to the duration or to add another point of Willpower to the same or a different ally. This power cannot affect the user. Extra points of Willpower are always the first to be spent. This power can only be used once a day.

**** Summon: No change
***** Idealism
By speaking truthfully and persuasively with another being, the vampire can attempt to convert that being to her viewpoint. This Discipline has helped many vampires decide to join the Sabbat and has been useful in forming temporary truces with werewolves on occasion as well.

System: The vampire must speak for at least five minutes with the subject of this power, and everything the vampire says must be true to the best of her knowledge. Including a lie or saying anything the user doesn’t mean results in an automatic botch. At the end of that time, the vampire can roll Charisma + Expression at a difficulty determined by the Storyteller, based on how well the player roleplays the interaction and how open the subject is to what he is being told (this power requires careful adjudication). The subject’s Willpower has no effect on the difficulty number. Most often, the user speaks of how all vampires should be equal and free. This Discipline can only play upon what is already in the subject’s heart; one who has no common ground with the user cannot be affected. Also, note that this power results in an ideological conversion rather than a physical conversion (Example: Gavin, a Ventrue antitribu, uses Idealism on Naera, a Tremere elder, and scores nine successes. Naera is fully convinced that all vampires should have equal rights and freedom…but, this does not change her opinion of the Sabbat one bit. In a blast of Thaumaturgy, she incinerates Gavin, then goes back to her chantry and starts using her influence to convince the rest of her clan both that the Tremere hierarchy is stifling and that they really should be fairer to the Nosferatu, Brujah, and Caitiff).

1 success
The subject is slightly interested and willing to continue listening; you can roll again after another five minutes. If for any reason you stop now, the subject will likely dismiss your words.
2 successes
The subject will give serious thought to what you have to say. There is no guarantee that he will not eventually decide to disregard your words, but they will at least be seriously considered.
3 successes
Your words will never be completely forgotten by the subject. He may believe he stopped considering them long ago, but they will rise again at the most inopportune times throughout his existence.
4 successes
The subject is inclined to agree with you, even if your words run contrary to something he believed strongly before.
5 successes
The subject is completely won over and acknowledge the accuracy of your words. How he will react then is up to him.

A vampire with this form of Presence at Level Five can learn the normal Entrancement power at a cost of fourteen experience points, and the normal Majesty power at a cost of 28, from anyone who knows them. They do not have to be learned in that order (the vampire could also choose to pay 28 experience points for Majesty and never learn Entrancement). A vampire with the normal form of Presence at Level Five can learn Inspiration at a cost of fourteen experience points, and Idealism at a cost of 28, from anyone who knows them. They also don’t need to be learned in order, as long as the vampire has Presence 5. No vampire with less than 5 in one form of Presence can learn powers from the other form.

New Merits and Flaws
These Merits and Flaws are recommended for Ventrue antitribu only, although they may be allowed to other characters at Storyteller discretion.

Progressive (4 pt Merit)
Your mind adapts itself quickly to changing times. While other vampires balk at using cars, you surf the World Wide Web without difficulty. You can never have the Flaw: Anachronism, and no matter how old you get, you can reasonably expect to be perfectly comfortable with new technology. Even more importantly, your mind is as flexible as a human’s. In an Elder game, you use the Experience Point Chart for neonates, regardless of how many points of the Age Background you possess (note, however, that no Ventrue antitribu can reasonably possess more than four dots of Age, and only the founders of the bloodline should be allowed that many).

They All Look Alike (2 pt Merit)
Humans all seem alike to you, and your clan weakness has adapted itself accordingly. You can feed on any human, although animal blood is still off limits. However, if you ever accept that humans possess individual personalities, you lose this Merit and immediately gain the full Prey Exclusion of a normal Ventrue antitribu.

Throwback (2 pt Flaw)
Perhaps you’re a defector from the Camarilla, perhaps your sire or grandsire was, or perhaps there is some other explanation—in any event, your blood shows that you are more closely related to the Camarilla Ventrue than most Ventrue antitribu are. Your Clan Disciplines are Dominate, Fortitude, and standard Presence. You are viewed with distrust by the rest of your clan, and finding a teacher for Dominate will likely be difficult. Most of your clanmates will strongly encourage you to develop Auspex (at out-of-clan costs) and let your Dominate skills rust. It should be noted that not every Ventrue antitribu who traces her ancestry to a Camarilla member has this Flaw; in fact, the ones who do are a distinct and inexplicable minority.

Perspectives on Others
Assamites
They are warriors. They know no other way, nor do they wish to. For now, the ones in the Sabbat are essential allies against the Camarilla, but after our war is won, if we cannot find another target for them quickly, they will turn on us. If everyone they could possibly regard as an enemy was dead, they would turn on each other. They could never deal with peace.

Brujah
They are the best at rescuing innocent young vampires from the Camarilla’s web of lies. They always support us, and much of our political power in the Sabbat comes from that support. Indeed, we owe them much. That debt will be repaid. We will not allow them to destroy their own dreams as they did in the Soviet Union, and in long-ago Carthage.

Caitiff
They are a perfect example of what a world dominated by the Camarilla would be like: in no meaningful way are they inferior to other vampires, yet they are treated as nonbeings because their blood is not pure enough.

Followers of Set
As a clan, they are most abhorrent. They wish to reduce all others to dogs at their feet. However, they still retain free will, and those who choose to turn their backs on that evil deserve the same chances as any other vampire.

Gangrel
The ones allied with us ignore us, and we them, for the most part, yet they are loyal. The ones in the Camarilla fight for their sect only when forced to. For the most part, they prefer to be left alone, which is their right.

Giovanni
Their true goals are unknown to us. Their morals are appalling, their actions are incomprehensible, and their personalities are disgusting, but as long as they concern themselves exclusively with mortals, they’re not a threat to us.

Lasombra
The members of this loathsome clan must be pulled down from their current position of leadership. Leaders are supposed to serve their followers, not the other way around, but the Lasombra do not accept that, and so they must be overthrown. Those who will not accept being the equals of the other Sabbat must be destroyed.

Malkavians
As long as they don’t pose a danger to the Sabbat, they deserve the same rights as all of us. The ones who do oppose the Sabbat deserve the same mercy as the other loyal slaves of the Camarilla—Final Death.

Nosferatu
They’re not very friendly, and they keep secrets from their allies, even among the Sabbat. This is bad for sect unity. However, considering the way they’ve been treated by most other clans throughout history, we cannot blame them for being a little…standoffish.

Panders
Most Panders are thoroughly self-absorbed, show no signs of ever considering anyone besides themselves, and are prepared to gain equality by walking over the tattered corpses of both those who oppose them and those who try to help them. We cannot trust them, and I would prefer not to have to deal with them at all…but we must help them gain recognition as equal to the other clans. If we don’t, we’re the same as they are. Worse. We’re the same as the Lasombra.

Ravnos
They believe in an entirely one-sided definition of freedom. They demand it for themselves, but do not offer it to those they interact with. Most of the ones in our sect are less hypocritical, but, for the most part, the ones in our sect are bleeding hearts who worry far too much about the humans and not enough about the Sabbat.

Toreador
Despite their artistic pretensions, the members of this clan are extremely conservative in practice. This makes them really irritating to be around, the more so because in their unthinking support of the designated leaders of their sect, they possess no sense of the gravity of their own actions. Respect them only when they have earned it.

Tremere
This clan is one of the most vile in existence. Everything from their power structures to their custom of Blood Bonding most of their members stands in direct opposition to everything we believe in. However, far too many of our fellow Sabbat generalize from the clan to the individual members. Those of the Tremere who flee their pyramid system and join us in the battle against the Camarilla’s evil deserve our support and, as do all our brothers and sisters, our respect.

Tzimisce
They have almost the opposite problem from the Ravnos antitribu; they forget that without humans to Embrace, we wouldn’t exist. However, their sense of honor makes it easy for us to find common ground with them, although their unwillingness to take direct action can be very frustrating at times.

Ventrue
No Ventrue believes in leniency to traitors. The Camarilla Ventrue consider us traitors to our clan. We consider them traitors to their entire species, to all the other vampires, of all clans, of no clan, whom they profess to wish to help and mercilessly exploit. Some clans retain a chance of reconciliation with their antitribu, but not ours. There is no room on this Earth or anywhere else for us and the Camarilla Ventrue together, ever. The split in our clan can be resolved only by war.

The Camarilla
This sect is dedicated to the principles that those clans which are best at obeying their leaders deserve preferential treatment, that those from "lesser" clans or those without a clan are beneath contempt simply by virtue of their blood, and, most of all, that it is right for those with power to impose their will on all others without reservation. This vile sect is crumbling beneath its own weight, and we will help it fall any way we can.

The Sabbat
As it was created, with its original ideals, the perfect society for vampires to live together in mutual respect. Unfortunately, it was quickly corrupted by the Lasombra. I wonder, sometimes, if that was inevitable—if vampires are unable to coexist happily; if we truly are, as the Camarilla melodramatically calls us, the Damned—but then I get over it. The Sabbat can still be what we dreamed of it being, and if every last Ventrue antitribu must die the Final Death to ensure it, most of us are prepared.

The Black Hand
The Assamite approach to leadership. Join if you like fighting and having people scared of you. On the other hand, this provides a check and balance to the Lasombra control of the Sabbat, and those of us who do want to join it generally have an easier time than the Black Hand Lasombra. The Lasombra stack many things against us in the Sabbat, but the Assamites are our friends—just ask them.

The Secret Masters
They’re the oldest, most manipulative, corrupt, and evil beings imaginable. This is known to our parent clan, but we know something they don’t know. We know where the Secret Masters originated.

Our parent clan realized, long ago, that it didn’t work for them to try to justify gaining power for power’s sake. It didn’t even work for them to try to convince themselves that the other clans needed someone to control them for their own good. Stupidity is one thing that has never been endemic to our clan, and too many of its members could see the fallacious nature of their own arguments. They needed a reason for accumulating power, something that could conclusively demonstrate how it really was in everybody’s best interests for the Ventrue to control them. Then one night, the Secret Masters were discovered, and their power and evil is so great that whatever the Ventrue must do to fight them is justified. Truly, the world has been a far darker place since the Secret Masters arrived.

Yes, what was your question—what are the Secret Masters?
Most vampires know them as, "Clan Ventrue."

Lupines
If you meet a werewolf, she is likely to tear you in half before you have finished your greeting. The clan they call Glass Walkers can be reasoned with some of the time. The clan called Shadow Lords is always willing to talk, but I’m not sure talking to them is a good idea. Isn’t "Shadow Lord" English for Lasombra? The clan called the Black Spiral Dancers frequently makes alliances with the Sabbat, but they give me the creeps, and their auras—don’t ask. The Lasombra plan on wiping all the Lupines out once the Camarilla has fallen; making long-term alliances with the werewolves is, accordingly, guaranteed to piss off the Lasombra, and if that isn’t a reason to do it, I don’t know what is. How you personally deal with Lupines is up to you. Just be careful.

Mages
Mages are more dangerous the farther away they are. If you can reach them, they’re only kine; they break, they bleed. Some of them consider themselves above the rest ofhumanity, but they’re still just juice bags. For all of that, however, they still shouldn’t be treated with open contempt. I’m sure they can be dangerous if the circumstances favor them. My advice is to let the Tzimisce handle all dealings with them if you can.

Humans
They’re so far behind us on the evolutionary scale as to barely qualify as sentient, much less sapient. The only two ways in which they are significant are as food and as potential vampires. The ones we do not Embrace—their lives are ours, to take or spare as we choose. Most of us agree with this, but some among the Sabbat argue that the kine should be shown more consideration. I don’t understand that, but then, when I was human I didn’t understand why people chose to teach sign language to gorillas, either. It comes back to freedom again; those vampires who choose to waste their time "helping" juice bags are welcome to it. The humans who threaten us should die, without mercy, and none of us would debate that. The vast majority of all the kine should simply be ignored.