Mature Advisory: contains graphic and written content of a mature nature, including violence, sexual themes, and strong language. Reader discretion is advised. 9 781912 200993 ISBN 978-1-912200-99-3 MUH051576 Printed in Lithuania The Anarch is to the anarchist, what the monarch is to the monarchist. That girl with the septum ring, is she one of them? How about that guy living in the alley, swaggering like a postmodern pirate? Or is it that guy over there, with his razor smile and enlightenment for sale? The unbound vampires could be anyone living on or beyond the edge of society. Written like a series of articles in an underground magazine, the Anarch book is for anyone who likes their bloodsuckers young, angry and hidden where you least expect it, and is a great resource for all players and storytellers of Vampire: The Masquerade. Core rulebook sold separately.
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH 1 D E D I C A T I O N S To Greil Marcus and Hunter S. Thompson W H I T E W O L F E N T E R T A I N M E N T Martin “Elricsson” Ericsson – LEAD STORYTELLER | Karim “Beach” Muammar – EDITOR IN CHIEF | Dhaunae “Eternally Bonded” De Vir – BUSINESS DEVELOPER | Tomas “The Old One” Arfert – ARTIST AND EDITOR | Jason “By Night” Carl – COMMUNITY AND MARKETING D E S I G N DEVELOPED BY – Kenneth Hite, Juhana Pettersson, and Martin Ericsson STORY & CREATIVE DIRECTION – Martin Ericsson WRITTEN BY – Juhana Pettersson and Matthew Dawkins ADDITIONAL WRITING BY – Martin Ericsson, Ariel Celeste, and Karim Muammar EDITED BY – Freja Gyldenstrøm ADDITIONAL EDITING BY – Karim Muammar A R T ART DIRECTION – Tomas Arfert, and Martin Ericsson BOOK DESIGN AND LAYOUT - Tomas Arfert COVER – Tomas Arfert INTERIOR ART AND ILLUSTRATIONS – Jer Carolina, Mary “TwistedLamb” Lee, Tomas Arfert, Sarah Horrocks, the CCP Atlanta art team directed by Reynir Harðarson, Anders Muammar, and Mark Kelly CLAN SYMBOLS, SECT ANKHS, CLAN FONTS, AND VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE LOGOS – Chris Elliott, Tomas Arfert | LORESHEET ART – Tia Carolina Ihalainen, Christopher Shy, D. Alexander Gregory, Michael Gaydos, and Guy Davis | CLAN FASHION DESIGN AND PHOTOSHOOTS – Mary “TwistedLamb” Lee PHOTOGRAPHY: Viktor Herak, Derek Hutchisson, Sequoia Emanuelle, and Julius Konttinen MODELS: ministry – Ty Tugwell, Veronica Löfdal, Maria Krylova, and Emmelie Mohlin Z | brujah – Grace Rizzo, Jackie Penn, Jacqueline Roh, Lee Dawn, Marcus Natividad, Mario Ponce, Mila Dawn, Nate Kamm, Paul Olguin, Daphne Von Rey, and Casey Driggers | gangrel – Zoe Jakes, Pixie Fordtears, Aram Giragos, Allesandro Giuliano, and Hal Linton | toreador – Indhi Korth | tremere – Aidin Fanni and Marcus Söderström | additional models – Ida-Emilia Kaukonen VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE CREATORS – Mark Rein•Hagen with Justin Achilli, Steven C. Brown, Tom Dowd, Andrew Greenberg, Chris McDonough, Lisa Stevens, Josh Timbrook, and Stewart Wieck. S P E C I A L T H A N K S TO Justin Achilli for “Anarchs Unbound”, Poppy Z Brite, 6104, Bassiani, Berghain, Cloak & Dagger, Stefan Bergmark, Johan Persson, Ossian Reynolds, J. Gerdin, Dima Brodin, Anders Davén, Gösta Kamp, and Marcus Engstrand. ©2018 WHITE WOLF ENTERTAINMENT, AB All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written consent of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire: The Masquerade, and the World of Darkness are registered trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. VISIT WHITE WOLF ENTERTAINMENT ONLINE AT W W W.WHITE-WOLF.COM AND W W W.WORLDOFDARKNESS.COM
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH 2 Introduction 5 Nights of the Unbound 8 What Are We 9 Monsters of the Recent Past 12 The City On the Sea 14 Looking for Tyler 16 First Anarch Revolt 19 Reign of Terror 22 ‘68 24 Ten Nights That Shook the World 25 Dee’s Blood Guide to the Anarch Free States 28 Conclave of Prague 32 Walk Among Us 35 Enlightenment in Blood 36 No Prince No Caine 38 Blood Vagrants 41 Blood of the Redeemer 44 The Parasite Way 48 Dawn of Satan’s Millennium 49 Death at the Roof of the World 52 The Beast on a Leash 54 Vegas Nights 56 The Night Circus 59 Delusions of Humanity 62 Is It OK To Feed Vitae To a Baby? 66 Los Nueves 68 24 Hour Party Blood-suckers 70 Roll Call of the Revolution 73 Lasciami 74 Soy Cuba 79 Ni Dieu Ni Maitre 82 I:IV:XV 84 The Legend of Bloody Qhawe 87 The O 89 The Ministry of Love 91 Whatever Happened to the Red Question? 93 Revelations of the Dark Mother 96 Luzern Kommune / Lucerne Commune 99 TABLE OF CONTENTS
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH 3 I Believe in Theo Bell / f*ck Theo Bell 101 The Blood of Patriots 104 Rudi’s Army 106 What Is To Be Done? 108 Educate, Agitate, Organize 109 Build a Better World (For You) 112 Keep Yo Turf 115 The Prince Must Die 117 A Vér Hanaja 120 Mask and Masquerade 122 #Motstå 125 Electric Vitae Acid Test 127 The Perth Manifesto 130 Eat the Rich! 132 A Utopia of Blood in the Amazon 135 STAMP OUT THIS STAIN 137 The Free Clans 139 Clan Brujah 140 Clan Gangrel 148 Caitiff 152 Duskborn 155 Traitor Clans 161 Unchained Malkavians 161 Red Nosferatu 164 Abstract Toreador 166 Ipsissimus Tremere 170 Free Ventrue 173 The Ministry 176 Response Algorithm 186 Lore Sheets 190 This is a work of speculative horror fiction, set in a dark reflection of our own world. Thus it contains graphic depictions of sex, blood-drinking, drugs, violence, abuse, political oppression, coercion, occultism, heresy and many other potentially upsetting themes. Recommended for mature readers and players. For advice on considerate play and how to handle sensitive themes in tabletop roleplaying games, see the section “Considerate play” in the PDF version of the “Vampire: The Masquerade” rulebook.
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH 4
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 5 The Blood is too good to waste on eternity. You live, you die, you live again, exploding into the night as a newly created animal desperately seeking to hide among its former human peers. You learn to lie, to hurt and to hunt. You learn the bliss of tasting blood. You learn to see every human being as a living mechanism keeping your blood warm for you. You want to exist in the here and now. You want to feel everything the night can give you. You want to see what's out there. Maybe you even want to belong. The Anarchs The old have the power, the knowledge and the resources to keep running things to their advantage. The young have nothing but their fearlessness, numbers and an understanding of the modern world. And that's just mortals. For vampires, it's much worse. The aged will never die. They will hold on to their positions and advantages forever and ever, crushing everyone who might one day threaten their privileges. The War of Ages is the organizing principle of vampire society. Established power has organized itself into the Camarilla, seeking to limit the very concept of what a vampire can be. They seek to control the existence of every single vampire on earth and to keep both the mortals and the undead in an eternal stasis where power never changes hands. The Anarch Movement stands arrayed against the Camarilla. It consists of an endless variety of ideologies and theories of power, brought together by an unwillingness to spend an eternity in a static tyranny. The very first edition of Vampire: the Masquerade from 1991 has this quote on the back cover: "No one holds command over me. No man. No god. No Prince. What is a claim of age for ones who are immortal? What is a claim of power for ones who defy death? Call your damnable hunt. We shall see who I drag screaming to Hell with me." That's the core experience of playing an Anarch vampire, right there. You're a young revolutionary fighting to destroy an immortal tyranny of blood. You're just a nobody, someone off the streets who got caught up in the War of Ages and trying to survive. You're an idealist torn between your dreams for a better world and the bloodlust tainting everything you touch. INTRODUCTION
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 6 There is no place for you in the Camarilla's Ivory Tower. Your story will be about blood and fire, sacrificing your eternity for a struggle as old as the world. The Unbound Beyond the Anarch Movement lie the Unbound. Who knows how many vampires there are out there, unconnected to the bigger society of undead? These vampires belong to families, cults or gangs, their own little societies just trying to survive the night. The Unbound present an infinite variety of ways to experience Vampire: the Masquerade. For many Unbound, the Camarilla is just a distant shadow, a repressive force that would shut them down if it only knew about them. The truth is that there can be a vast variety of different, small vampire communities living hidden among the teeming billions populating the planet. If you want to play a game about recently Embraced vampires still pretending to be the humans they used to be, the Unbound are your choice. Perhaps you want to tell the story of a vampiric infestation of a local crime syndicate or a strange blood cult formed around a charismatic leader. In these cases the wider framework of vampire politics could just get in the way of the human horror story you're planning. Most of all, the Unbound keep the World of Darkness full of surprises. No Camarilla Prince can ever truly know what's happening in her city, despite her best efforts. That's an idea for another Unbound chronicle: Perhaps your characters think they're the only vampires in the world, until after ten or twenty sessions, they suddenly come into contact with the local Camarilla. A World of Darkness The World of Darkness stretches from ocean to ocean, continent to continent. Monsters stalk the night in Tokyo, New York, Lagos and your hometown. This is reflected in the vast variety of the Anarch experience and political projects. The Anarch revolution that created the Free States in California was animated by very different ideas than those of the Brujah who fought with Lenin in the early nights of Communism. A lot of Anarchs speak of Carthage, but they don't always mean the same thing by it. An Anarch chronicle is connected to the mortal world, to the here and now. It will have humans driving their own agendas, terrors created by mortals worse than those perpetrated by any vampire. In an Anarch game, the characters are part of the world's social fabric and they can embrace their nature as parasites or fight against it. For an Anarch character, the horrors of being a vampire are visited on their friends and family, people they know, people they've lived with. Vampire concepts like the hunt are not an abstraction, but a necessity forcing the vampire to consider her true nature every night. This holds true whether your game is set in Cape Town or Montreal. The specifics of local vampire culture change and the politics evolve and mutate, but the core nature of the blood animating each vam-
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 7 pire remains the same. And with the blood, the basic activities the characters can do in your game: Hunt, hide, fight, steal, lie, cheat, argue, infiltrate, seduce. The Experience This book seeks to lay out a wide variety of Anarch experiences, from the leather jacketed biker Anarchs of the Free States to the Duskborn party scene in Reykjavik. In all of these cases, the vampire lives in the now. Eternal life is but a distant dream in the nightly fight for survival, and many of the vampires who make up the Anarch scene would probably have lived longer if they had never become vampires at all. Vampire life among the Unbound is fast and deadly. You learn to take risks, fight for what you want and die rather than submit. The concepts and ideas in this book are tools for you to use when you make a game of your own. Use them, change them, ignore them as you wish. Once you start running your own game, it's your World of Darkness. Monsters of the Recent Past presents the history of the Anarch Movement from Carthage to the present day as told by a variety of voices among the Unbound. Walk Among Us s all about unlife in the modern nights. What are the different kind of communities Anarchs organize themselves into? It’s Time to See Who’s Who details famous figures, political positions, ideologies and scenes among the modern Anarch Movement and beyond. What Is To Be Done? All talk and no action makes for a bad revolutionary. This is all about the practical possibilities of fighting the Anarch fight, from tips on how to disappear to the many benefits of a liberal approach to Diablerie. This panoply of Anarch experiences across the world is followed by a look into how the different vampire clans function in the world of the Unbound. This is followed by the Loresheets expanding on specifically Anarch topics referred through this book. Invisible Monsters So welcome to Planet Unbound. It's a world where the sun is always setting somewhere, ready to unleash the hidden monsters living everywhere among us, as neighbors, friends, co-workers, lovers and random people on the street. Life on Planet Unbound goes on night to night while the Camarilla watches it go by from the windows of their Ivory Tower. This is a truth known to every Anarch: If you think the hunt is somehow separate from your nightly existence, you've already became terminally lost in the modern world. For an Anarch vampire, the hunt is life, whether they're meeting an old school friend to assess if they could be forced to become a blood addict or in a desperate fight to escape the fangs of a murderous Camarilla Archon. It is no accident that among the Kindred, the prettiest ideals of humanity are held by those who don't really live among humans anymore. This night is your night. The plane is populated by a feast of human beings, their flesh crisscrossed by veins carrying sweet blood waiting for you. It doesn't matter if you relish the hunt or view it as a horrible necessity. The blood doesn't give a damn about your morality. It's all around you, calling for you to have a taste. Put on your best party song, wear your favorite jacket, apply some eyeliner, forget you're less than human and dance into the nightt. ■
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 8 NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 9 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND WHAT ARE WE Okay, get ready. I'm going to explain the real truth behind our kind. You've read about alien bacteria found on the Antarctic ice, right? That's where we come from. Those bacteria infected scientists, and it spread, and here we are. It's the only explanation that makes sense. We're a disease, nothing more. A disease that transforms the host into a perfect vehicle for spreading the plague. When you feel the hunger for blood rising, that's the virus pushing you to seek new victims. It's like those ants in the Amazon getting infected with fungi which hijacks the entire organism and starts directing it towards its own goals. Every one of us is a demon, and every one of us is a true rebel. This is our glory and our burden. Lucifer started as a rebel but soon became the thing he despised the most, the tyrant of Hell. Only we are the true free thinkers, the demons who rejected Lucifer and came to Earth. This is our real purpose: To spread the message of true freedom among humanity. We've always been here, from the dawn of history to the present day. We're a parallel species evolved to live in symbiosis with humanity. They provide us with sustenance, and we provide direction and purpose. I'm pretty sure vampire blood is radioactive and we're all mutants. That's how we have all these powers. You must discard human morality like a snake sheds its skin and learn to listen to the voice of the divine within you. You're God's chosen instrument, gifted with a fragment of divinity to show you the true way. That's our purpose and our destiny. There's no escaping our inherent holiness: Your every kindness and every cruelty is an act of God. If you wish to understand our condition, you must study the works of the Theosophists. We all begin the cycle as inanimate minerals, and through virtuous acts, progress to plants, animals and finally human consciousness. The traditional literature often suggests that the term for the next stage is Bodhisattva, but we can also use another word with mythical connotations: Vampire. The Bodhisattva/Vampire's purpose is to guide humanity to the next stage in its cycle of reincarnation through the spiritual act of ingesting blood. This is the simple truth that Christianity, Judaism and Islam seek to deny: Caine was the first Messiah rebelling against a tyrant God, the true visionary showing us the real power and potential we all have within us. We are Caine's true angels, bringing his judgement on Earth. I'm a materialist. I don't believe in supernatural explanations, but I do believe in the broad sweep of history. This is the real purpose of our kind as immortal beings. To direct the curve of human events. After all, immortality is enlightenment. Who cares if there's a big story behind all this? I call it like I see it. We're predators, exploiting humanity in the night. Nothing more. What Are Humans I like humans a lot, what can I say. I never get tired of the hunt. They make such funny noises when they're trying to escape, and at the moment of death they all have this endearing belief that they're unique. I've tried to explain how hilarious that is to some of them, but they never get it. Humanity has been placed in our charge, and we are responsible for guiding and protecting them. We must fulfil the responsibility we have towards our weaker brothers, even as they fulfil their responsibility to feed us. Lot of licks see humans as nothing but food. For them, humanity is a big blood farm giving us what we need to survive. This always makes me feel sad. Humanity can be so much more than mere nutrients! They can provide a real culinary experience.
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 0 There's a vast difference between the blood of an elderly policeman wasting away in a ramshackle geriatric ward and a plump scion of a successful family planning a wedding in the Maldives. There's no such thing as bad blood. Every human brings their own flavor to the table, and we should learn to appreciate it! The humans are us and we are the humans. It's nothing but vanity to imagine we're somehow better, stronger, crueler or smarter than they are. We may live longer and hunt for blood, but in the end we're all just assholes trying to survive through another night. I see every human essentially as a proto-vampire. They just need a little push and they become us. I know it feels kinda gross, but this is how our biology works. We're an organism that subsists on eating its larvae, allowing the strongest and most viable individuals to develop into the adult stage of the species. Now, here's the real question: Are we the final stage or do we develop into something more? We're predators, night animals, hunters designed to kill fast and quiet. We're cheetah, not elephants. We need our camouflage, our hiding places, lairs from which to strike. The best defense we have is to hide among humanity like a big cat hides among tall grass. We should never forget what it was to be human. Becoming one of us is a fall from grace, and our only hope of salvation is to return to humanity. We are not more than human. We are less, and we should always strive to return to what we were. I don't care about humanity. A lot of us do, but in truth they're just a distraction from the real shape of the world. Sure, humanity generates a lot of noise, but in the end it's as meaningful as the crackle on an empty radio wavelength. Humanity is loss. That's a lesson we all learn eventually. You grow attached, you fall in love, you make enemies, you hate, but in the end humanity always withers and disappears. For a lick, relying on the living is like building a sandcastle on a beach before the tide comes in. What Is Wise You want to gorge yourself, feel the power of the blood in your body, burn through everything you drink and become a superhuman monster capable of anything. And sure, you can do that. But if you want to live longer, maybe don't. Drink sparingly, use the blood with purpose, and you'll survive. A lot of us detest the Hunger that always keeps us focused on the delicious red stuff coursing through the veins of mortals. For me, the Hunger is a blessing. Its purpose is to keep us alert, on our toes, ready for anything. Because of the Hunger, we're always thinking of what we need to survive. Everything beyond that is luxury. Rule number one of a successful unlife is to nest among mortals. Exist as one of them. Look like them, behave like them, talk like them. Don't let yourself be separated from humanity. Don't give in to the idea that we somehow live apart from human culture and civilization. The closer you are to humanity, the more successful you'll be as a hunter and harder to detect for your enemies. Blood is the focus of your existence. Keep a stash in your fridge. Learn how to suck animals dry. (I know they taste horrible, but better than starving, right?) Make sure you always have more blood around you than you really need. This way, you'll be able to feast if you need to heal after a fight. And once bad times come around, you'll be able to roll with the punches. A vampire is a lonely hunter. Don't rely on others, don't trust and don't reveal your secrets. In the end, the only person who really cares about your survival is you. Make sure that nobody knows where you sleep, who your blood slaves are and how you hunt. Trying to survive alone is a fool's errand. A lot of us descend into pointless paranoia, fearing everyone and assuming ill intent behind friendly gestures. Learn to hunt in a pack. You'll find it's easier, safer and if you f*ck up, someone's there to save your ass. And another thing: We get lonely too. Just because you're undead doesn't mean you can't use someone to talk to. The Camarilla sucks, but they have one good idea: the Masquerade. If you think about their Traditions, you'll realize that most of them are geared for preserving elite power. The Masquerade is an exception. It's designed to protect all of our kind, and that's why everybody should follow it. The reality is that you might think
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 1 yourself as the apex predator on a moonlit night, but at high noon you're just another fool getting burned to a crisp. The Camarilla likes to define what being a lick is all about. They want to tell you about Caine, the Traditions, the Prince and all that bullsh*t. If you're not careful, you'll start believing them. You'll think their way is the only way for our kind to exist. But it isn't. There's a simple remedy to their lies: Eat the rich. Once you have a taste of a Camarilla vampire, there's no going back. What Now Immortality is bullsh*t. It's a lie designed to keep you docile and afraid. Sure, we can live forever, but is it worth it if it means an eternity of bowing to a Prince? Live fast and hard and make sure that when you die, you take those assholes with you. You've been brought into a world where every advantage, every scrap of power and every drop of blood is already in the hands of hoary ancient creatures who will never, ever give it up. For humanity, there's at least the hope that old power dies. For us, that will never happen. Instead, we must tear it from the hands of our elders and rip them apart so they can never build their vile system again. You've been given the powers of the blood and a deathless existence. It's time you put all that into a good use and fight for a better world. Any asshole can fight for themselves, but if you want real immortality, fight to change the world. Fight for something bigger than yourself. Only before you do that, ask yourself this question: A better world for who? The Camarilla is a massive edifice built to preserve the power of ancient monsters who were Embraced in centuries past. They present themselves as the most powerful, the wisest, the best deserving of all of our kind, but don't fall for their lies. They're nothing but old fools holding onto their power with every ounce of their being. Your job is to demolish the Camarilla and create space for something better to be born. Something built on principle, not just to maintain existing privilege. I didn't become undead just to get caught in someone else's wars. The Camarilla, the Anarch Movement, Caine, humanity... Who cares about any of that? I live for myself. This is my life, the only life I will ever have. I will not waste it in service of a slick sleazebag with a line he wants to sell me. We're monsters, and nothing good can come of us. We can't build a better world, because in a better world we don't exist. The best way a lick can improve the society around him is to commit suicide. Otherwise, we poison everything, especially mortals who are trying to do something good. No human political movement has been improved by contact with our kind. There are so many lies. Caine, Antediluvians, Golconda. All of these stories are there to keep us in our place, and they need to be demolished. I believe we can find the truth of our condition, but first we must dispel the darkness of all these medieval myths purporting to show us how to live our unlives. There is hope for us. Far from the political games of the Camarilla and the toxic games played by our elders, we can still be redeemed. Perhaps that is Golconda, perhaps something else. There's still a chance for something better in this sordid mess. ■
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 2 Monsters of the Recent Past There is no single history of the Anarch Movement or the Unbound. History is always political, after all, interpreted and reinterpreted to suit the needs of the moment. Vampire society may play host to those who remember ancient times from the Roman Empire to New York in the Eighties, but only a fool would trust the version of events told by an immortal bloodsuckerr. The truth is that vampires lie. They lie to serve their own interests, stroke their egoes and spite their enemies. In this they're no different from ordinary mortals, but the Masquerade makes it even harder to write an objective history. Reliable written sources of information on the history of the undead are scarce. What does this mean for a young Anarch seeking to make sense of the world? How can she know where she came from and what it means to be a vampire? You have to choose which lies you like the best. Consider one of the most famous moments of recent Anarch history, the death of the Prince of Los Angeles Don Sebastian in 1944. Anarch legends tells how the Spanish anarchist Salvador Garcia fought his way into Don Sebastian's haven and killed him after a desperate, bloody battle. For this and for writing the Anarch Manifesto Salvador Garcia became one of the legends of the Anarch Movement. Did he really kill Don Sebastian all by himself? Maybe, maybe not. Nevertheless, when he was alive Don Sebastian was nothing but the Camarilla Prince of a young, new city. In death, he became the symbol of everything wrong with the Camarilla, from autocratic practices to sheer cruelty. Even the Camarilla bought into the myth, abandoning his legacy and refusing to try to salvage the rule of a Prince who seemed so degenerate and useless. Was Don Sebastian really worse than so many other Camarilla Princes? Probably not. But he was weak, and that was enough. When you listen to stories about Anarch history, apply the same basic rules you should follow when you read the newspaper. Who's telling the story and what's their agenda? How is the issue being framed? Who benefits from this narrative? And of course, we always tend to believe those with power and distrust those without power. If you're a young vampire, try to keep this impulse in check. Power is never on your side. – Rudi, Brujah ideologue
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 4 The City On the Sea If you hang out in Anarch circles, and particularly with political Anarchs, for any length of time, there's one word you're bound to hear: Carthage. So what does a North African city state whose glory days were two thousand years ago have to do with our struggle today? Carthage is sometimes called the Third City, after the First and Second Cities of vampire legend. Most of those legends don't get a lot of traction in Anarch circles, but Carthage does. As the story goes, it was the best and most successful attempt at creating a society where humans and vampires could live together openly and in harmony. Although created long before the birth of the modern Anarch Movement, it was our paradise on earth, and its fall still resounds through vampire history. For the Camarilla, Carthage is a symbol of the impracticality of our ideas and the supremacy of their vision for our existence, but for us it means precisely the opposite. Let's face it: The very existence of Carthage flies in the face of centuries of Camarilla orthodoxy about the Masquerade. It calls into question the most basic conception have of ourselves. After all, the Princes tell us that we're parasites who hide among humanity, piggybacking on their successes. Their dogma states that secrecy is safety and only fools dream of radical change in human society to improve our lives. So how did they do it? How did these ancient, mainly Brujah Kindred manage something that has rarely been even attempted since? This is where things become difficult. There are very few written sources and our elders are notorious liars when it comes to history. It's hard to say how Carthage was really organized, but a lot of Movement Anarchs have their own ideas of how it was done. For some, Carthage was a peaceful utopia in which humans and vampires lived as equals. We weren't predators or parasites, but rather enjoyed the blood of our human brethren consensually. We ruled our city together, sharing the power and privilege without regard to who was a vampire and who wasn't. For others, Carthage was a benevolent vampire dictatorship. We took care of our human brothers and sisters, ruling over them benevolently and only taking the blood we needed to survive. Our immortality meant that we could exist among them openly as a privileged, trusted elite. There are darker versions of the story as well. We're vampires after all, and the humans are a mere herd. In this vision of Carthage, the city was a utopia for Kindred, a metropolis with a captive, controlled population which understood its place. This Carthage was a place of enlightenment and peace, as long as you were one of us. So which of these is true? Usually what you believe depends on what kind of a world you want to build. You choose the Carthage that works for you. All three versions share two ideas: Vampires living openly among humans, and using our power to create the society we want to live in. From the charity of those who believe us equal to humans to the brutality of those who believe humans to be a mere resource our common trait is ambition. We believe we can make the world anew. We don't have to accept the current conditions like the Camarilla cowards do. This is the true meaning of Carthage. The exact historical reality doesn't matter. The point is that a better world is possible. This is also the truth that the Camarilla desperately seeks to suppress. Both mortal and Kindred history tells of a violent Carthaginian blood cult. Children were sacrificed in mad rituals, their bones collected in deranged ossuaries. You can ask the question, is this true? Was Carthage actually a city of violent terror, with its Brujah masters feasting on the blood of babies? Mortal historians of Carthage have long struggled with a lack of proper records from Carthage itself. Their sources of information are second-hand, usually Roman. And who waged a bitter war against Carthage, ultimately destroying it? That's right, Rome.
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 5 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND These stories of baby murder are nothing but Roman war propaganda, taken as fact by gullible historians. Indeed, recent scholarship on Carthage has disputed the Roman narrative. The ossuaries are there, but they have a more mundane explanation than mad rites: They're simply a graveyard. After all, children died of disease and hunger in Carthage the same as all across the ancient world. Still, it's no wonder the Camarilla still tries to tarnish the reputation of Carthage. The idea of the city has always been dangerous. Two thousand years ago, it was Brujah idealists in Carthage versus Ventrue conservatives in Rome. The Ventrue understood the potential of the Carthaginian idea to create a new revolutionary society. They realized that they had no place in this new world Carthage represented and decided they had to destroy it. From human history, it's hard to say why Carthage really fell. Maybe Roman military might supported by Ventrue wealth and power was enough. Or maybe Carthage had run into trouble on its own. Corruption is no stranger to us, so it's possible the Brujah of that time grew complacent and caused their own fall. Whatever the truth, Carthage laid the foundation for a pattern that would be repeated many times in our history. The city fell, but the idea became immortal. Sometimes we become so enamored of the story that we forget its basis in reality. In the grand legend of Carthage it was destroyed for all eternity, but in actuality it still exists, just in a different form. After being conquered by Rome, Carthage became a Roman provincial capital. Today, it's a town in the orbit of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. 24,000 people live there. It's a good reminder of the fact that while we dream of our utopias, humanity doggedly barrels on with its own history. – Salvador Garcia, author of the Anarch Manifesto
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 6 I didn't think she was anything special. Sure, she was charismatic, knew how to play a crowd. But that's not rare among Anarch Brujah. I figured she was just another recently Embraced punk girl having fun among the dead. We were hanging at our usual place, like we did pretty much every night, when the Sheriff decided to drop by with his flunkies. She wasn't there when it started. The Sheriff told us that until the lick who was feeding in the Prince's private hunting ground was caught, he'd execute one of us every week, starting tonight. Sure, we talked tough, but in the end we were a bunch of losers. We liked to think we were badass, but we didn't have the courage to go against the Sheriff and all he represented. He crushed my childe's head under his boot in front of me, and I didn't have the guts to do anything about it. But she did. She came into the bar, this girl I thought was just a nobody. She had a tattered Misfits shirt and Doc Martens, but when I saw her face as she witnessed the execution, all that seemed to melt away. She didn't make a sound, but somehow the Sheriff realized things had gotten serious. Maybe he saw it on our faces. We were no longer looking at him. He turned, and she thrust a cue stick straight through his heart as if she'd done it a thousand times before. The Sheriff's friends started edging away. She smiled at them and said: "Say hello to the Prince. He already knows my name." The next morning, the Sheriff burned in the sunrise. We never saw her again, but something big changed in the city that night. – Lena, a German Anarch Looking for Tyler Many of us regard Tyler as the first Anarch, although that's probably not strictly speaking true. What we do know is that in life, she was a 14th century English peasant rebel, a follower of Wat Tyler from whom she later took her name. In death, she fought against the Camarilla even before it was officially formed and played a key role in the original Anarch Revolt. She went to the Convention of Thorns in 1493 and was present at the newly formed Anarchs' capitulation to the Camarilla. These are the largely undisputed historical facts about Tyler. After Thorns, she disappeared as an Anarch leader, perhaps disappointed in the way the nascent movement had betrayed its ideals in the name of a servile peace with the Camarilla. Some say that she participated in the formation of the Sabbat, but it's hard to be sure. Perhaps it's for the best. For centuries after Thorns, the legend of Tyler has been much more important than reality. She's the first true rebel, the one who refused to capitulate. She hasn't soiled herself in the power games of the Camarilla or the brutalities of the Sabbat. She hasn't taken her place as a leader like Salvador Garcia or Jeremy MacNeil, so we can project all of our hopes and dreams onto her without having them tested by reality. We don't know her true beliefs, so she can be everything to all people. We just know that she's out there, somewhere, and when the need is greatest she will appear to save the day. – Chinasa Adeyemi, an Anarch chronicler
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 7 Looking for Tyler
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 8 I used to be jealous of Tyler. I knew her, back in the day, and sure she was impressive. But so were many others. In the centuries since, some of us have have fought on the front lines of the Movement. What has she done? Hidden in the shadows, playing Robin Hood? I bust my ass off trying to lead this community, yet she's the real hero. Tell you the truth, I've made my peace with it. You don't realize the real power Tyler has until you go to a meeting with the Camarilla. Sit down with an Archon or two and see how they like hearing her name. Sure, I'm tough. I can probably take out any of those wimpy little snots the Camarilla likes to send our way. Yet they still don't fear me the way they fear a story. That's what she is, a story. The best part is, most folks don't even know the real stuff about her. If you want to see a Prince squirm, ask him about Tyler and Hardetstadt, the mighty Ventrue Founder of the Camarilla. Only be prepared for a long interrogation about how you knew to ask that question. – Jeremy MacNeil, an Anarch leader I don't expect you to believe me. I'm just a nobody, a bag lady, a vagrant. You walk past me every day. Later, they told me some well-meaning person had called the cops and insisted they take care of me. I'd passed out on the street and they were afraid I was dying. The cops were pissed off. They arrested me and took me to a holding cell. They figured they'd had enough of me. People die in holding cells all the time, and I was half dead already. I just needed a little push and they wouldn't have to see me again. I saw her. She was like a red angel, tearing those cops apart like it was nothing. The drunken one pissing on me, the angry one trying to rape the girl in the next cell, the scared one who tried to resist. They were all meat to her. Just bones and organs in uniform, waiting to be taken apart and spread on the linoleum floor. You want me to confirm your story of how methcrazed junkies assaulted and murdered all your officers. And I will. But in my heart, I will always have my angel, looking out for me. – Sofia, currently homeless
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 1 9 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND E ven today you hear some Anarchs saying we should talk with the Camarilla. We need a common response to the Second Inquisition. We need to make peace after the catastrophic results of the Conclave of Prague. Anybody who knows anything about our history can tell you this is all bullsh*t. Let's take a look at the first Anarch Revolt. The roots of the Revolt are in the 15th century Inquisition campaign to destroy all creatures they saw as the spawn of the Devil. Although human in origin, the Inquisition was not to be f*cked with: They swept across Europe destroying our kind in town after town. They were successful because they had momentum, faith and organizing behind them. We'd relied on fear for a long time to keep the mortals in check, and it had made us lazy and complacent. When the fear dissipated, we had nothing. So how did the ancient monsters, the supremely powerful creatures leading our kind respond to this threat? The same way an Elder always survives to live another night: By running away and hiding. It's important to understand that the Kindred society of that time was extremely authoritarian, even compared to today. Our kind were taught to follow the example of our elders in all things. A young lick had no freedom, but at least the society built by the elders was stable and secure. Right? The first Anarchs were born in the fires of the Inquisition. They learned to survive and to fight a war against the worst foe to ever threaten our kind until the present day. Many died in the betrayal of the elders, but many more learned they could take charge of their own lives. After the Inquisition, they were not content to bow down after the cowardly Princes returned from hiding to demand allegiance. They figured that if they could survive the Inquisition, they could depose a tyrant. The Anarch Revolt swept across Europe, and it had some spectacular successes. In every city and every town, there were young vampires ready to take up the torch of the revolution. You must remember that in those times, our gerontocracy was even more brutal than today. Executions, torture, sad*stic games of mind control... A young vampire was basically property, a toy to be used and abused by his sire any way she saw fit. The idea of a new free and just society for our kind grew in a field long tilled and cultivated by the tyrant elders themselves. Although stories of the first Anarch Revolt often revolve around the mythic deaths of the Tzimisce and Lasombra Antediluvians in the hands of revolutionary warbands, it's important to remember that the Revolt was a true mass movement with momentum across the European continent and beyond. Before the Revolt, the elders had felt secure in their power. They had everything set up in their favor and could afford to treat their childer like slaves. After the Revolt, every small town Princeling knew what it felt like to be afraid of your own progeny. So how did the Camarilla fight back? Very cleverly, as befits a vampire. Those sneaky motherf*ckers realized that they'd never beat back the revolution using violence. Instead, they capitulated and corrupted us from within, vampire style. The stage for this grand maneuver was the Convention of Thorns, a peace summit held in England in First Anarch Revolt
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 2 0 1493. The Anarchs and the nascent Camarilla sent representatives to the town of Thorns to negotiate. This was the first mistake the Anarchs made. There is no negotiating with the Camarilla. You can't win against political manipulators who've spent centuries perfecting their craft. In Thorns, the Camarilla eviscerated our movement. Our leaders betrayed us, seduced by token concessions and personal favors. The Camarilla elders made a pretense of humility, giving us a feeling of achievement so we'd fail to realize how they were destroying us. The Camarilla played the long game, trusting in the fact that a treaty would steal away the momentum of the Revolt, giving them the time to slowly reassert their power. Some of us understood this even at the time. Individual Anarchs dissented at the Convention, the most famous among them the Anarch folk hero Tyler. A radical wing of the Revolt staged a walkout and went on to form the extremist mystery cult Sabbat. Still, to our eternal shame, most Anarchs accepted the deal the Camarilla offered, thus destroying any chance of a successful revolution in the centuries to come. So what does this have to do with tonight? Well, let's see. The Second Inquisition is rooting out and murdering our kind across the world. At the same time, elders in many Camarilla cities are becoming less and less accessible, often outright disappearing. In the light of history, it's clear they're taking their lessons from the first Inquisition. Disappear, and let their childer deal with the danger. The thing is, they're not the only ones to learn from history. We can do it too. If the elders abandon us, we can take control of the power and resources they leave behind. What's more, the Conclave of Prague was something you rarely get in Anarch history: A freebie. We got a massive boost through no effort of our own. The Camarilla managed to alienate the Brujah to such a degree they left it as a clan. I have no idea what that means in practice, and I doubt Brujah elders are going to be any less dangerous than before. But as a symbolic act, its message was clear. The Camarilla doesn't represent the great majority of this world's licks. The Anarch Movement does. This is the simple rule we must always remember when fighting for our freedom: It's never achieved by appealing to the conscience of the king. The Princes will never give us our freedom of their own volition. We must take it, and take it by force. We must resist every offer at compromise, because it will be an attempt to neutralize us through negotiations, as the Camarilla did in Thornss. – Dalia Nakache, a French Anarch revolutionary ideologue
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 2 2 The only problem with the French Revolution was that it ended unfinished. Because of that tragedy, aristocrats still infest our societies. In a just world, the revolution would have spread and every last king would have been executed for crimes against the people. I'm not prone to envy, but I would've liked to have been there. A lot of Anarchs of a certain generation say they were, but I think that's like a hippie who says he was at Woodstock. Take it with a grain of salt. Paris is one of the great bastions of the Camarilla, a true city of the heartland of elder power. Because of this, the two periods in which Paris became temporarily an Anarch town are much loved in our circles. The first was the Revolution, and the second May '68. In both cases, events instigated by mortals caused Anarchs to flock into the city and force the local Camarilla into hiding. Eventually the Camarilla recovered and we had to leave the city, but the memory remains. In the case of the Revolution, political change utterly inimical to the Camarilla swept Europe. In France, feudalism was abolished, the monarchy fell and dozens of Camarilla vampires who had lived among the aristocracy died, sometimes dragged out of their havens during the day by the new revolutionary authorities. What's more, the relatively new Prince of Paris, Francois Villon, had a hard time trying to combat the revolution despite the fact that he was absolutely on the side of the Ancién Regime. The reasons for this were twofold: 1. Villon's city was in chaos, and full of Anarchs who'd come to join the revolution. 2. He was a f*cking coward, fleeing the city instead of risking personal danger. With Villon in exile, the city's new Anarch masters had free rein with the new revolutionary government. Some of the old Anarchs like to downplay their involvement, but I think we all know what the Kindred contribution was: To make it as bloody as possible! I bet there were some good times to be had. Just imagine the scene: The havens of old Toreador suddenly ripped open, the confused elders emerging to face crowds armed with torches. It must have been Anarch heaven. Assisted by the mortal chaos, you could have done anything, forced the Camarilla establishment to suffer any indignity. (A lot of Anarchs are all about killing the enemy, but I advocate for the occasional ritual humiliation. It's a lot of fun!) And even without the elders, there's still humanity. The guillotine. The line of simpering nobility waiting to die. That's what being a bloodsucker is all about. I wish I could have just laid down right next to the guillotine and let the blood from each decapitation flow into my mouth. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. For the mortals, the Revolution ushered in all kinds of new ideas that took root in France and elsewhere. For us, the Revolution was an early flowering of the Anarch sentiment, successfully crushed by Villon once he returned to the city at the cusp of the 19th century. – Agata "guillotine fangirl" Starek Reign of Terror
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 2 4 I f you hang with Movement Anarchs long enough, you'll hear about Paris in '68. The romance, the excitement, there's always some old dude who had the time of his life on the barricades and who's never experienced anything better. Unlike the French Revolution, '68 is recent enough that many of us actually were there. And you know what? It was pretty great. This is one of those classic uprisings that people remember, and the first one I'm old enough to have participated in. The stage: The post-war France of Charles De Gaulle. The issues: Capitalism, consumerism, authoritarianism and American imperialism. The participants: Students occupying institutions of learning. 11 million workers striking. The result: President De Gaulle is forced to secretly flee the country for a short time, and calls for a new general election upon return. (The depressing part: De Gaulle's party won the election, although De Gaulle's personal career went into decline.) I got to Paris a little late, and it was like an Anarch festival. Everybody who was anybody in the Movement was there. Keep in mind that I was recently Embraced, so I was super impressed with all these dudes of the revolution like Jeremy McNeil and Salvador Garcia. But there were others too. You can laugh at me, but I'm pretty sure that a girl I shared a night with on the barricades was Tyler. Like during the French Revolution, the Camarilla went into hiding. Some of them were old enough to remember the trauma of the first Anarch occupation of Paris. Prince Francois Villon disappeared for a week, leaving his flunkies to try to deal with the massive influx of Anarchs eager for a replay of the Revolution. Personally, I had good times. Embraced my first three childer. One of them even survived the chaos! Drank my first Camarilla twit dry. He was lovely, a dashing little aristocrat. He begged me not to kill him. It was pretty heady stuff for a young Anarch! This is the real generational experience of '68 for us: Rioting, partying, debating, feeding and f*cking on the streets and barricades. No wonder '68 is fondly remembered among Anarchs. But there's something more. This is my personal theory: Everything moved so fast, we didn't have time to poison it. I love a good riot as much as the next girl, but looking at the mortals, things tend to get bad when our kind is involved. This is why I always tell my compatriots we should let the humans organize their political movements in pace and get into banking or something. Except banking is boring. Riots are fun. – Agata "the problem" Starek '68
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 2 5 F or the duration of a single human lifetime, the Soviet Union existed as paradise on earth. Before you object to that statement, I ask you to consider paradise for whom? The Camarilla and its Kindred like to see themselves as separate from human history and society. This view of themselves makes it hard for Camarilla Kindred to understand other ways of relating to humanity. They imagine that their framework is universal, when in reality it's only shared by a small minority of aged vampires. This is important if you wish to understand who we really were, the Brujah who participated in the October Revolution. Simply put, we were ordinary people. We were young, recently Embraced vampires, none older than ten years undead. The Embrace doesn't erase who you are. Your history, values, analysis of the world, class background. All of this survives intact. The only difference is that when the world starts to shake, you're better equipped to fight for what you believe in. The People There was a lot of blood in the revolution, and it fueled a cleansing of society that would have been unimaginable before. For the mortals, the blood they spilled gave them faith they could succeed. For us, it sustained us as we tore apart the lairs of monsters so ancient, even a Camarilla elder would tremble at the mention of their names. The individualists of the Camarilla do not grasp the power of collective action. What chance a methuselah has when the masses dismantle its tomb stone by stone in the cold October sunlight? The mortals might think they're searching for provisions hidden away by corrupt aristocrats, but the effect on the body of the vampire is the same. It will burn. In those early nights, we were all united by the common purpose of destroying the rule of the Tsar and the vampire Princes reigning in the night. We wanted to build something better, something more, a beautiful new world by the people and for the people. Perhaps the seeds of our division had already been planted, or perhaps our ideas diverged only later. It doesn't really matter. In the beginning, we were fired up by the knowledge we were doing something the old establishment had always told us was impossible. For the vampiric scholars among us, this was our Carthage, not as a city but as a vast country stretching from Europe to Asia. Ten Nights That Shook the World
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 2 7 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND Many say that the true nature of the vampire will always assert itself. Maybe so. Personally, I think it was more about the added perspective of experience and age. Some among us never let go of the belief that we should build a place where humans and vampires could live together in open harmony, as equals. Others, myself among them, eventually understood that a true immortal paradise would be something we built for those of our own kind. I'm not against treating humans well. I was a human once. But we have to be realistic and accept that humans are nothing but our food and larval form. Kindness is a virtue, but it doesn't make sense to advocate for full rights to mortals any more than it does to grant them to cows or dogs. The Schism This ideological conflict came to a head in the aftermath of the death of Lenin. In 1926 at the 4th Congress of the Revolutionary Council (colloquially known as the Brujah Council), the goal of open coexistence between our kind and humans was formally abandoned. The decision was followed at the 5th Congress in 1929 by the formal definition of the purpose of the Council as the creation of a perfect state for vampires. The pro-human universalist faction managed to push through a motion on our responsibility to treat the mortals in a spirit of equality, but it didn't stick. In the next ten years, internal purges successfully eradicated this faction by sentencing them to death for sedition or forcing them to exile. So did the Brujah Council control the Soviet Union? Yes and no, depending on who you ask and how you define control. To understand this, we need to go back to the Camarilla idea of our kind as separate from humanity. This is not how the Council worked. We existed as part of the larger Party structure, working together with our human colleagues. To put this bluntly, the environment we fostered was such that if you could only have a meeting with Comrade Domasheva in the Lubyanka at night, would you really ask questions? Or would you just keep silent? Terror and censorship are wonderful tools for the protection of our privileges and keeping the Masquerade. We were not separate from the Party. Instead, we were a part of a bigger machine, subtly nudging it so that our goals were met. Our influence was from within, not from without. The End of the Dream This is my only regret, that so few now understand what we did: Our society was a success, as long as it lasted. The gulags provided bountiful hunting, the Masquerade held automatically and mortals who threatened us heard a knock on their doors at three AM. Unfortunately we were brought down by useless sentimentality and individual greed. Some of us started to dream of the Princely domains of old, and others kept up their useless prattle about the role of humans in our grand experiment. Because of these weaknesses, we were unable to defend and maintain the Soviet Union when it started to crumble. Personally, I never gave up on the dream. There are still places on Earth where an efficient system of repression keeps the mortals in check. I couldn't stomach the new Russia so I left for Central Asia. Still, those living in the ruins of our magnificent design must remember that for a few glorious decades, Carthage was real on a massive scale. A paradise for vampires, a cattle pen for humans. A place where we could truly flourish without fear of the depredations of the Camarilla or terrors like the modern Second Inquisition. Now that young vampires flock to build their own domains in the former Soviet territories, they'd do well to honor those who paved the way for them. – Oksana Dimitrovna Domasheva, a former member of the Brujah Council
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 2 8 Dee's Blood Guide to theAnarch Free States By: Dee
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 2 9 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND Dee's Blood Guide to theAnarch Free States By: Dee A lot of p*rn gets made in the San Fernando Valley, so much that sometimes they call it the p*rn Valley. I'll tell you something about p*rn and being a vampire that will make you a happier person, if you can accept it. A lot of people think that they must want to f*ck what society tells them to. A dude must want to f*ck blonde p*rn girls. If deep in his heart he actually wants to f*ck something else, he needs to suppress that feeling because otherwise his identity and selfworth become confused. A lot of vampires do this as well. They too think they need the blonde p*rn girls, to feed from them. They think that's what you must do as a vampire: Seek out conventionally attractive, clean humans to feed from. But you know, the heart wants what it wants. And usually what it wants is the most f*cked up inappropriate thing. Like, I know a Brujah tough guy, we went to hunt together. There was a p*rn shoot, one of those "World's Biggest gangb*ng" things. There was a woman on all fours getting f*cked. For a lot of folks, she would have been the obvious victim. But my friend is a modern man. He's in tune with his desires. On a shoot like that, there's a dude whose job is to keep the star clean. He has a towel he uses to wipe sperm and other fluids off her body. Not a lot of folks are paying attention to him. This is the man my friend wanted to taste. The sperm toweler.. The Free States If you want to read about how to suck blood from p*rn stars, you don't need me. But if you want to know where to find the sperm-cleaners, Dee's here for you. The answer to that question is the Anarch Free States. The most beautiful place on Earth for those of us with discerning tastes. The old Camarilla Prince was killed in the revolution of 1943 and the Free States have been a patchwork of small domains held by individual gangs and vampires ever since. There's two famous founders, Salvador Garcia and Jeremy MacNeil, both Brujah. Salvador fancies himself as a Che Guevara type and writes manifestoes and other boring stuff. Salvador also killed the old Prince, and I envy him for that. Everybody says the blood of a Prince is a treat, but a committed coward like me gets a taste so rarely. A lot of people want MacNeil to be the Fidel Castro of the Free States, a strong leader. He's an elder and has the power to do it. Instead, and to his credit, he's more like a Sweeper, someone who keeps outsiders in check but otherwise keeps to his own domain. From a culinary perspective if you needed to choose between these two, I would go with MacNeil. He's grouchy but if you beg hard enough, like I did, you can get a taste. I hear Salvador is great for those sentimental types who want a f*ck along with their blood exchange. And don't start arguing with me about whether it's okay to reduce two of the great icons of the Anarch Movement into nothing but blood objects. That's what freedom is all about, the freedom to lust after the sweet blood of hot Anarch dudes. The Good Stuff The California Free States are a wonder when it comes to finding unique and strange blood types, whether human or vampire. Are you going for homeless bodybuilders? Hollywood execs? Starryeyed young people from every corner of the world? Despairing immigrants from Latin America who've found their dreams turned into dust? They're all here. As to vampires, pretty much the only thing you won't find in the Free States is a Camarilla Prince, and even that occasionally changes when someone tries to make a play for it. The thing to keep in mind is that domain is super complicated in the Free States. Like, extremely complicated. There's no Prince to give you permission to hunt. Instead, you can do anything you like as long as the vampires in the neighborhood are cool with it. Some, like MacNeil, keep their domains open for everybody. Others, like Salvador's gang, keep things more controlled. What's more, the limits of different domains change all the time. Gangs appear and disappear, borders are renegotiated and wars happen. At any given time, the number of domains in the Free States could be anything from ten to thirty.
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 1 However, if you have the guts for it, poaching is very easy. If you've developed a desire for aging sports stars in a coma, keep a low profile and do your thing. Odds are, you won't get caught. And if you do, you might be able to bluff or grovel your way out of it. Folks in the Free States are used to new vampires. There's more coming in all the time. The Classics But wait. Some people really do want the p*rn star and not the sperm towel man. Amazing but true! And okay, I can help you with this. Where do you go if you want the real Anarch experience? To sink your fangs into the washboard abs of a dumb, young Anarch biker with a leather jacket? The answer is the appropriately named Anarch nightclub A Taste of L.A. It's a dim, ramshackle warehouse, but it's also neutral territory between the gangs, so you can drop by, get a lay of the land and do some comparison shopping between all the local tough guys. Here's a warning, though: A lot of you folks are after the blood of a specific clan, but in the Free States it's rude to ask about that. You can't go up to someone and go: "What's your clan and generation, I need it for my study on vampire feeding patterns?" If you do this, you can get a fist in the face. (I speak from experience.) So you know, be subtle. But you know me, there's one thing better than any other when it comes to blood, and that's the Ventrue. I never get tired of it. I've drank from maybe fifty different Ventrue in my time, and it still feels fresh when I find a new one. The nuanced, the richness... I admit the Free States are not the best place for this, but there are some options. The ancilla Louis Fortier is a classic Ventrue type and likes to Embrace pretty ladies. I considered going for one of them, but with the Ventrue power is power. Had to try for Fortier himself. Fortier is a good example of the variety you can find in the Free States. He's a pretty classic dictatorial domain-hogging vampire, but nowhere near powerful enough to really be a Prince. The Free States work for him because he gets to maintain a little domain without having to bow down before anyone bigger than himself. I saw him at A Taste of L.A. and badgered him until he said that he'll let me taste his blood if I get down on all fours and kiss the shoes of one of his childer. A lot of folks ask me: "But Dee, how can you humiliate yourself like this? You're a proud Brujah!" My answer is simple. I don't give a f*ck about dignity, but I do care about sweet, sweet Ventrue blood. Forever Free Politics is boring, but there's something funny about the way so many people just can't grasp the idea of a de-centralized system. Like, "oh no, the Anarchs have failed to find a leader, surely they will perish!" Not having a central figure is the whole point. What's more, the Free States have proven their resiliency in the face of relentless attacks. At least two Sabbat invasions, a ton of Camarilla treachery, Chinese vampires trying to establish their own place here. Yet they all got absorbed or repelled by the Free States. You could almost draw the conclusion that a centralized leadership makes a city weak. Take out the leaders and you've won. Can't do that here. The closest the Free States have to a Camarilla Prince is Tara, originally a Texan Brujah who came to California to support the 1948 revolution. She established herself as the Baron of San Diego, and in the decades since became the poster child of Barons as conniving Camarilla stooges. Everybody knows she plays games. She's tried to make deals with everybody from the Camarilla to the Chinese vampires. She's made an attempt to become the Prince of Los Angeles. I like her spirit, but you can see how she's doomed to fail. She's the ultimate bad-faith Anarch, and even she can't make her power grab stick. If you're more courageous than me, it's good to be in town when one of these gang wars between the Free States is going on. There's plenty of interesting blood types to be had in the chaos for the clever connoisseur. Just remember that your first step is to look deep within your soul and honestly ask yourself the question: “What kind of blood truly makes me happy?” ■
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 2 S ometimes you forget how the high level politics of ancient licks can affect you. It's easy to think that when you live from hunt to hunt, invisible among the mortals of your neighborhood the spats and vendettas between Princes, sects, Archons and Justicars don't really mean squat. And often they don't. But in recent nights, they very much have. What does it mean for an Anarch living in the streets when the Camarilla panics at the first sight of the Second Inquisition? They throw us under the bus. When the SWAT team comes to knock on your door, they're there because a bunch of aged assholes half the world away decided you were expendable. The truth of Camarilla policy has leaked: They decided on a very high level to give the Second Inquisition information on Anarch and Sabbat domains. This makes you mad. It certainly makes me mad. Hell, it apparently even made the Brujah Camarilla super cop Theo Bell so mad he attacked some Camarilla bigwig in a recent political convocation called the Conclave of Prague. It's a bad sign when even your lapdogs starts to catch the smell of blood in the air. We often think that the elders of the Camarilla are infinitely crafty and wise, always ten steps ahead in the eternal chess game they call Jyhad. The events after the Conclave of Prague tell otherwise. Listening to a Camarilla lick spin it, they've solidified their hold over the Kindred of the world by cutting the Anarchs and the Brujah loose. In reality, they f*cked up. I'm not sure if they really believe their stories or if it's just propaganda. They do have a talent for self-delusion. In any case, the fact is that they've retreated to their mansions and penthouse apartments, leaving the streets to the Anarch Movement. The Camarilla used to assert itself as a global organization for all Kindred everywhere. Even the Anarchs were supposed to be a subset of the Camarilla. That's now been exposed as bullsh*t. They have no claim to universality. We do. They can hunt us, torture us and kill us, but that won't change the reality of their Conclave of Prague loss. What it does is make the Camarilla more dangerous: The privileged elite always bares its fangs when in danger of having its advantages taken away. So what does this mean for you? In many cities, the Camarilla has had to retreat, only controlling part of the territory, leaving the rest to Anarchs. Many of their holdings in the mortal world have been abandoned, and if you're smart enough you can find them and take them over. After all, the banker addicted to vampire Blood doesn't really have the option of saying no to you if you're her only hope of avoiding blood withdrawal. More than that, these events have revealed the true face of the Camarilla. Regardless of their propaganda, they're not an umbrella under which all our kind can seek shelter but a mechanism designed to protect the interests of the powerful. If you pledge allegiance to them, remember that they will always let you die if it helps them escape. – Dalia Nakache, a French Anarch revolutionary ideologue
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 4 T he Princes and the Justicars retreated to the Ivory Tower. No matter how they spin this, the reality is that in their retreat, they have opened up a new battlefield between the Camarilla and the Anarch Movement. It will lead to horrifying bloodshed on both sides, but it also has definite advantages for those of us who prefer to stay in the margins. I shudder to think of it now, but we in the Ministry were on the cusp of joining the Camarilla before this final rupture. I'm happy that the process dragged long enough for the Camarilla's true weakness to be revealed. The elders are as deadly as ever, but the war between the old and the young acts as a convenient distraction if you want to pursue other goals altogether. I have to admit that in some ways these new developments have put traditional outsiders like us at the Ministry in a strange new position. The Camarilla's cowardice with the Second Inquisition conferred a lot of legitimacy on the Anarch Movements and unified their domains more effectively than anything they could have come up with themselves. Or perhaps I should say "our domains". I've never thought of myself as an Anarch, but perhaps I've become one too. I do know that as the danger of the Second Inquisition intensifies, outsiders like me will not find safety among the Camarilla. As strange as it feels, I suspect that I would have better odds with Anarch street thugs on my side. For those thugs, this is just a conformation of what they already knew: You can't trust power. And you can't trust the story being told about the Conclave of Prague either. Consider this: Are Ventrue and Brujah elders who've been friends for centuries really going to stop conspiring together? Is the Tremere Regent really going to disavow his secret Brujah lover just because of a political schism? Probably not. This has always been the rule in high level sect politics: The rules apply to the young, not to the old. For the ancients moving the rest of us like pawns, the sects are just one more tool to use in their games. Sometimes when you meet the real power players of our bloodhungry kind, you can catch a glimpse of this. I've spent more time with such august personages than most and it still surprises me how casual a Camarilla Prince can be about the ostensibly holy tenets of her sect, if the person breaking them is a friend and not a vassal. Well, enough politics. A lot of Anarchs are going to get caught up in the spirit of the revolution, and get killed as a result. Perhaps they'll achieve something. Perhaps not. Meanwhile, those like me have the perfect opportunity to exploit the chaos and work for our real goals beyond the understanding of the sects. ■ – Hesha Ruhadze, a Ministry knowledge seeker
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 5 Walk Among Us Dee: Now that you're a vampire, you should dress like one. Freya: What do you mean? How do you dress like a vampire? Dee: You know... Pale makeup. Black hair. Fishnet stockings. A Misfits t-shirt. Freya: You're wearing an oversized t-shirt with a picture of your own face on it. You look like the sordid little sister of some degenerate white rapper. Dee: Sure. But if you ask anybody who knows me, are they going to say that I'm a role model? Freya: No. Dee: That's right. You've been brought into the night. Now you need to embrace the hashtag vamplife. Freya: I'm Duskborn. I haven't been "brought into the night". Dee: Whatever. You're a vampire. A bloodsucker. Don't pretend you're not. Freya: I'm not pretending. So what it is that I need to embrace? Dee: The vampire lifestyle!! Freya: And what's that? Dee: Well...
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 6 ANCHOR: Details are still scarce on last night's events in the Berlin Friedrichshain area, but initial reports suggest significant violence. We've received reports of at least four deaths so far, and authorities on the scene warn that the numbers will probably rise as they conduct a sweep of the area. We'll go to Carol, who talks with one of the first responders on the scene. INTERVIEWER: I'm surprised we're only discovering the extent of the catastrophe now. Weren't there any calls to the area last night? FIRST RESPONDER: That's why this is so confusing. I've never seen anything like this. It's as if there was some kind of a gang war, but in secret. These people must have died literally meters from a busy street full of the usual nightlife crowd. INTERVIEWER: This magnitude of violence is extremely unusual in Berlin. FIRST RESPONDER: It's unheard of! I mean, people die but not like this. INTERVIEWER: Everybody I've talked to here has said the same. This is a new kind of violence, and the causes for it remain a mystery. – A Sky News segment broadcast at 1205 PM on 13th of April, 2017 [COMMENT: You know, when you used to work as a Camarilla Archon before you went Anarch... This is not what you want to see on the news.] Police reveal new details in Friedrichshain deaths BERLIN / AP: Berlin police has revealed new details in the investigation to the Friedrichshain deaths last spring. A mysterious chain of events in the Friedrichshain nightlife area of Berlin led to 24 confirmed deaths as well as a number of individuals hospitalized for causes ranging from drug overdose to acute anemia. The incident took place on the 12th of April, 2017, but the investigation has been plagued by delays and revelations of corruption within the Berlin police. In a statement released this morning, the Berlin police attributed much of the violence to the unpredictable effects of a new designer drug with increased aggression as one of its side effects. The new drug had been sold under the street name "blood". [COMMENT: This is very bad. This is a borderline Masquerade breach. If the SI doesn't see this, they're blind, deaf and dumb.] Early reactions in the German media to the police statement have been critical. The drug narrative fails to explain the older bodies found in the sweeps of the area conducted after the incident. Some of them were over a decade old. Enlightenment in Blood
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 7 The case has been plagued by strange incidents, including multiple deaths in police custody. The investigation to these deaths has not yet been concluded, but leaked materials suggest bizarre details such as corpses in an advanced state of decay found in holding cells. [COMMENT: Oh my god. This is getting worse. We're headed for an SI invasion for sure.] There have been calls in the German Bundestag for a neutral investigation into the Friedrichshain affair that would consist of officers from outside Berlin police.. (26.7.2017.) A comment on Facebook in a Berlin street culture group on the 22nd of October, 2017: The cops are lying. I know, I was there. I saw a man get literally torn apart by crazed lunatics. They were biting him. I've never seen anything like it, it was nuts. The cops interviewed me and I explained all this. I wasn't the only one either! There were other people there, witnesses. I've seen others comment about this, but you don't see it on the news. [COMMENT: This must be when the inhabitants of the city literally tore the Prince of Berlin apart. That's a Nicolae Ceaușescu moment for the Camarilla, for sure. A lot of the more sensible Camarilla Kindred started to escape town at the first whiff of revolution, but the Prince thought that he could control it to the last. Next time there's an Anarch revolution in a Camarilla city, a lot of the Camarilla Kindred are going to be thinking about how it went in Berlin.] Friedrichshain Investigation to be Handed to an International Task Force Berlin / AP: The latest revelations about the mishandling of the investigation into the Friedrichshain deaths and the revelations about international organized crime connections have resulted in the creation of a new international task force, coordinated by Interpol. Berlin police will cease its own investigation and hand over all materials to the new task force. At the same time, the internal police investigation into the role of Berlin police has been dropped. The aftermath of the Friedrichshain deaths have seen a number of scandals in Germany, ranging from politics to police to tax havens and even urban development.. (1.12.2017) [COMMENT: This is what it looks like when the mortal police start unraveling the threads of Kindred society. Do I need to stop saying "Kindred" now I'm no longer Camarilla?] An extract from the transcript of a police interview on the night of 13th of April, 2017: SUSPECT: I don't care who you are. Cops, Camarilla, Inquisition. f*ck all of you. You know what the Sheriff did to me? He made me murder my wife and kids because they were a risk to the Masquerade. He killed one of my friends because she didn't want to date one of the Primogen. One time, he tore off my incisors because I'd fed in the wrong place. Then he made fun of me because I lisped. Do this long enough, and people don't care about their safety anymore. They don't care about survival. The only thing they care about is tearing it all down. So please, I'm done talking. I hear there's a cell waiting for me with a window to the east.. [COMMENT: We're f*cked, no question. There's always going to be somebody who's going to say this is yet more proof that the Anarchs just can't run a city, but that's bullsh*t. Every Prince Berlin has ever had, wannabe or otherwise from Gustav Breidenstein onwards has been a sad*stic power-drunk brute. Eventually people get fed up with that. This catastrophe is just a symptom. The Camarilla is the cause. I see that now.]
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 8 Here's what you'll find in a lot of Anarch territories. Each is unique, but there are a few trends. The Simple Life Many assume that I look down on Anarchs who don't fight the fight, but that would be furthest from the truth. In many ways, they are already living in the world we're trying to build. They are doing their thing, free from Camarilla interference. So many of the Anarch gangs you find all over the world are based on this simple lifestyle. You want to hang out with your friends. You help them and they help you. You hunt, perhaps operate a bar or a nightclub. You party, have fun, enjoy the perks of undeath. Nothing wrong with this! When problems arise, it's not these licks who make them. The Gangs This is what most Camarilla Kindred think when they think about us. Gangs of vampire bikers or a bloodsucking hip hop crew. In the Free states, we've seen gangs of surfers riding the waves at night and homeless undead kids who used to want to act in Hollywood and now take stalking celebrities to a new level. Usually each gang controls their own territory. They might be fronted by a leader, but not always. The organization of the gang is their own problem. Many get a little ambitious with their territorial claims and as a result there's a lot of gang war. That's freedom taking its course. An Anarch biker gang can go unnoticed by either the Camarilla or the Second Inquisition for a long time. They have a negligible digital footprint and at a glance their behavior is indistinguishable from a mortal biker gang. The Camarilla tends to move slowly, and from their perspective, the territories and very identities of Anarch gangs change all the time. The Cells More serious Anarchs, especially politically active ones who live in dangerous territories organize in cells. These resemble the structure of underground criminal or political organizations such as the Italian Red Brigades in the 70's and 80's. The cells are all about security and information control. You observe sensible precautions, switch safe houses regularly, and only contact other cells through established protocols. It's probably not surprising that licks in gangs tend to die a lot more than licks in cells, even if the cells engage in much more dangerous activities. It's good to remember that most domains mix different kinds of organizations. There can be a biker gang and a revolutionary cell in the same domain. The Others Plenty of Anarchs don't fit into these categories. Some domains hold a single powerful lick, in others bourgeois bloodsuckers try to pretend they can continue their lives as lawyers and doctors. Some create cults around themselves. Every Anarch city has some kind of unique, strange new vampire phenomena you would never expect to find. No Prince No Caine salvador garcia, one of the founders of the california free states explains the basics of anarch life.
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 3 9 The Free States The Anarch Free States are the totality of all Anarch domains across the world. Wherever the Camarilla has been abolished and Anarchs hold sway, our kind can live in freedom and prosperity. The Free States have been organized in a dozen different ways, but there's one clear commonality: Rule by a single individual is rare, because it's so often associated with the Princes of the Camarilla. Sometimes there's a central Revolutionary Council ruling the city, but even that is unusual. More typically, a Free State is an anarchy consisting of smaller domains. It's not regulated or controlled, but exists in a permanent state of flux. Sometimes you can unite the gang leaders under single banner, but this is hard to do unless the reason is an external threat such as a Camarilla invasion. Barons In many Anarch domains, you'll find something called a Baron. Originally a title used ironically by Jeremy MacNeil to describe Anarch leaders, it's later acquired more nuance and connotations. However, at its most basic a Baron is still a strong Anarch who controls territory and wields authority over those living in it. One of the most common types of Barons, and the way the term was originally used in the California Free States, is a lick who has a city neighborhood or even just a building. She might be a gang leader who rules with an iron fist or a public representative with no real power. The point is that you can have many Barons like this in a city. The other common type of Baron controls an entire city on his own. A local strongman, he behaves suspiciously like a Camarilla Prince. This kind of a Baron tends to be suspected of being secretly in league with the Camarilla, as a sort of Camarilla underboss. It doesn't help that in some Camarilla domains with an Anarch population, this is openly admitted. The Camarilla likes to outsource its repression to a leader ostensibly representing the oppressed population. In this model, the Anarch enclave is a little Bantustan where the Camarilla can push all its social problems. Defense This is a classic Camarilla trick: First they do their absolute best to undermine us and make sure that our domains are filled with turncoats and agitators. Then they point to all the problems we have and say that this is proof that our way doesn't work. This is why every Anarch domain needs to think about defense. Security is the reason why many Anarch domains are surprisingly Draconian. Traditional Camarilla crimes such as making illegal progeny (not a crime at all in many Anarch domains) get very light punishments, while betraying the cause to the Camarilla can get you executed. When it comes to war, you'll see why I like the gangs. They might be apolitical, but they know when their turf is threatened and fight with courage you'll never see among Camarilla cowards. Emissary A big city can have five gangs, a couple of cells and a bunch of random Anarchs. There could be three different Camarilla cities adjacent to the Free State. What this means that there's a lot of diplomacy going on. Gangs send emissaries to each other, the Camarilla sends emissaries to the Anarchs, the Anarchs send competing emissaries from different groups to the Camarilla. What I'm trying to say is that there can be a lot of emissaries in a Free City, especially in times of the Second Inquisition when it tends to be better to send someone to negotiate rather than speak by phone. Sweeper Now we get to the really ugly part. Sometimes there's an uncontrolled epidemic of vampires just running around Embracing more before they really understand what they are. Or maybe an entire gang turns traitorous and rats us out. Whatever the situation, sometimes you need to do some killing and don't have time to debate it. The Sweeper is an unofficial position. It falls upon a physically powerful lick, someone not politically active and possibly part of any local gang or cell. During a crisis,
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 0 this person is called to kill until the problem goes away. It's a thankless job that easily leaves you socially isolated. Spies The Camarilla likes to think that they have infiltrated our ranks and know everything there is to know about us. What they traditionally fail to understand that we've infiltrated their ranks as well, and we don't always even have to work for it. The simple truth is that in Camarilla cities where elders routinely abuse their childer, there are plenty of young vampires who leak information to us. This is the typical Anarch spy in a Camarilla Court: Someone who wants to reclaim a little of their dignity by working against their masters. Sometimes we get fancy and send a more experienced Anarch into a Camarilla city as part of an operation, but this is rare. Our strength is as a movement, not as a paramilitary operation. Overpopulation and Suicide Almost all Anarch domains are overpopulated, but they also tend to have a very high turnover of our kind. It's a rarely stated fact that suicide rates among newly Embraced Anarchs are sky high. A significant percentage of our kind kill themselves during the first few months of unlife. I suspect this is rarer in Camarilla territories because of the way they chain the sire to the childe, but for us it's a good reminder that our kind don't have it so easy. Some Anarchs argue that this is a big problem that should be addressed, but I think it makes us stronger. Everybody who's still with us was tough enough to withstand the destruction of their previous lives and a new existence as a monster. Rants My favorite part of Anarch culture is the rant. In many cities, the rants often organized by Brujah have become universal, accessible to all Anarchs. They're like a political open mic night, where everybody has a chance to say what they want. Power in a rant is the ability to convince people of your point of view, so they favor those who have the charisma and eloquence to argue. Me, I love it. This is what being an Anarch is all about: Firing up the crowd if they like what you say, and getting booed off the stage if they don't. ■
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 1 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND You've just arrived in a new city. You go to meet the Prince like a good little lick. You introduce yourself and ask for permission to hunt in the Prince's domain. This is a crucial moment. You need to tell the Prince something, but the problem is that different Princes respond to different things. You can't use the same story every time. You're hungry and you need to hunt. You don't want to risk getting in trouble with the Sheriff. The Prince has to believe you. You look the Prince in the eyes. In that instant, you must intuit the correct response and start talking. It's no accident that many Anarchs who live on the open road are inventive liars. We have to get good at it. Otherwise, we go hungry or get killed by a Sheriff for poaching. So how do you do it? Let Auntie Juniper teach you the facts of life. The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse They tell you that licks are better off sticking to the cities. I suppose that's true if you're a know-nothing wimp who can't survive the life on the open road. And frankly, there ain't no shame in weakness. If you can't hack it, you should stay close to your herds and Elysiums. Some of us don't much like domains, rules and traditions. If you're of a like mind and can take care of yourself, abandon the life of a sedentary lick and take up the thrilling existence of a bloodsucking vagabond. Auntie Juniper has been living in her trailer for a few decades now, and it's not a bad life. I go from place to place, town to town, and when sh*t hits the fan, I disappear. It helps that so many licks, Camarilla and Anarch both, can't even really conceive what it means to live free. They think the wide open spaces between urban areas are filled with werewolves and worse. And sure, sometimes they are. You learn to deal with it. So what do you tell the Prince after you've just arrived in her domain? You need to have a reason, and the Prince won't like it if you tell her the truth: That you're a homeless hobo vampire driving around, poaching, living your life on a perpetual hunt. A lot of Camarilla Princes like to think of themselves as good people, amazing as this sounds. Appeal to them with a sob story. You're a poor Camarilla neonate, your city taken over by terrifying Anarch rabble. “Please Sir, if I could just hunt for a few nights, I could get my life together! I won't bother you longer than that!” Trouble is, some Princes hate weakness. They have no trouble executing someone they think useless. Take the opposite tack: You're a Camarilla freedom fighter, a loyal neonate waging a war of your own against the terrible threat of the Anarch revolution. Talk tough, invent a bunch of dead comrades and you're good to go. If you want to go the extra mile, invent an atrocity. "The Anarchs killed my sire, the noblest man I have ever known. Almost as noble as you, Sir. That night, my old life ended and the war started." In Anarch domains, you got to play it by the ear. Sometimes folks are hospitable and you're fine. Tell them your best road stories and hunt to your heart's content. However, sometimes a Baron is as bad as a Prince. Then you fall back to the story. Just remember to invert it. “Please Sir, the Camarilla murdered my sire, the most noble man I have ever known...” Blood Vagrants
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 2 Bodybags You’re a corpse already, so it’s not so bad to sleep in a bodybag. Right? Where to sleep is your number one concern when living beyond city limits. Body bags have been designed to keep corpses contained, so they’re a good safety measure. Some nomad licks go all hardcore about sleeping. “Sleep in the river mud”, they say. “Sleep in a sewer.” I have to be honest, that doesn’t really work for me. Sure, it’s safe, but I want a bed. I have a nice bed even if it’s in a sunproofed trailer. The trailer works because Auntie Juniper has her boys with her. They’re blood junkies of course, but so loyal. If you don’t have people taking care of you, paranoia can save your life. This is where I’m going to say something that might not make sense at first glance: Buildings. Avoid them. “But surely, Auntie Juniper, it’s safer for me to sleep in a house! That’s what they’re for!” I hear you, I hear you. But it’s not safer. You’re in a motel room. The cleaning lady comes in, sunlight falling through the doorway, and you’re crisp. Break into somebody’s house to sleep, someone sees you, calls the cops and the SWAT team gets to see you burst into flame. These are real examples, by the way. People and buildings go together and to sleep safe, you should avoid people. Stash your corpse somewhere nobody will look. Maybe not a sewer because that’s disgusting, but somewhere good and secret. Of course, if you’ve been doing this for a long time, you can build a network of safe houses. A great choice if you have the diligence to get it done. Too much work for Auntie Juniper... Vampire Life The great thing about this life is that you really get to hunt. None of that “herd” bullsh*t. No steady sources of blood. No calling old exes from when you were still human because your last three attempts to hunt all failed. And certainly none of that feudal Camarilla crap where you get a blood tithe or some such thing. No, you’re an undead monster hunting in the night. No plans, just the beauty and terror of the moment. A small caveat here: If you’re one of those modern licks who don’t really know how to hunt properly, Auntie Juniper can’t help you. You got to be able to hustle for blood if you live on the road. That’s how it is. I know you’re going to poach in other people’s domains, but my advice is to avoid it. Go by the book, meet the Prince, do the story. Like we talked about. But if you do poach, think about where the locals probably feed and then go someplace else. Don’t get fancy. If you’re at a gas station, hunt at the gas station. For a poacher, speed always trumps every other consideration. The real fun is hunting in the country, in areas a Camarilla lick will never visit. This is where a vampire becomes a vampire. You roll into a small town somewhere in Ohio or Tennessee. There’s no Prince, no Sheriff. No Barons, no domains. Just you and a town full of prey settling into the night. The Masquerade is not always such a concern and the cops are easily dealt with. Or maybe they put up a fight. A farmer surprises you tearing out the throat of his daughter and fills your face with lead. That’s part of the thrill. Auntie Juniper likes her prey feisty. This is the real hunt. No urban complications, just predators and prey. That’s what makes it all worth it. Begging for Scraps What if everything went sideways? You’ve lost all your money, you don’t have a car, the sun is coming up? This is when you got to understand that sometimes on the road, you need to accept terrible things. One time, Auntie Juniper was in a bad way. She’d lost her handsome junkie boys and didn’t know the lay of the land. Couple of hours from sunrise, I was at a gas station desperately looking for some young man to take me to his home so I could kill him and hole up in his bathroom. Instead, a gang of six Rabble bikers rolled up, all leather clad and hardass. I struck up a conversation with them and let them project whatever they wanted onto me. This is a little trick you can learn from Auntie Juniper: If you look right, people are not interested in who you are. You don’t have to lie
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 3 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND to them, because they’ll make up the story themselves and then you just have to play along. I was going to sleep in their haven. As they were leaving, I hopped on the back of one of their bikes and looked around. They had a man chained to a bike. A terrified city lick. They dragged him along on the ground, his skin grinding away, his blood leaving a trail on the asphalt. He was half dead by the time we got to the roadhouse they were using as a place to sleep. They left him on the roof to wait for the sun. Auntie Juniper doesn’t like to see cruelty inflicted like that, against a defenseless target. Hurt people, but hurt them fair. You know what I said to those Rabble? Nothing. I slept safe while that man burned on the roof. ■ – Juniper, an Anarch roaming the U.S. Midwest
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 4 T onight we will look at Leviticus seventeen. “I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the people.” TTerrifying words for a vampire! Many of our kind read these words and understand them to mean God sets his face against us. We are the Damned and must walk the earth under a curse. Condemned by God, our very sustenance is an affront to His divine order. Fear not! God has a plan for each and every one of us. To find our answers, we must look at His word. Let’s see what God really says in Leviticus. “Any Israelite who sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat in the camp or outside of it instead of bringing it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord - that person shall be considered guilty of bloodshed.” Do you see? God considers blood to be sacred. He doesn’t want it to be wasted, and that’s why the shedding of blood except to honor Him is a crime. For as He says: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar.” The blood is the life! What use is blood to a mortal man? As a sacrifice! The mortal man atones by shedding blood at the altar, from himself and from others. Who receives the sacrifice? We do! These poor souls can die safely in the comfort of our arms knowing that in their final moments, our very bodies transform their lifeblood into a sacrifice pleasing to God! Every time we take the blood of a mortal on the altar, we give that mortal the gift of redemption. We are God’s tools on Earth, and our work is to spread his grace and salvation! This is the true message of Jesus. This is the meaning of the blood of the redeemer. Christ didn’t sacrifice himself for humanity. He sacrificed himself for us, for God’s chosen instruments on Earth. What do you see when you look around you? A small wooden church in Alabama, the pews broken, dust on the windows. The building is nothing. Look at the congregation. Look at our mortal brothers and sisters kneeling and praying. They understand that to find salvation they must sacrifice their blood on the altar, or the blood of someone they love. This is the lesson of Isaac and Abraham, this is why they give their children for us to eat. When an innocent relinquishes their blood, they reach heaven in a state of perfection. Look at those in the congregation who have tasted the blood. The mortals whose lips shine red from the blood of the redeemer. They kneel fervently in their faith, sustained by the blood of Christ himself. This is who Christ suffered for: Us! Our work! Christ gave his life and his blood so we could live and deliver salvation to all the peoples of the world. We are the BlOod of the RedEemer
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 5 VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND BlOod of the RedEemer
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 6 instrument of freedom from the original sin. This is the true birth of our race: We have been given the blood of Christ in and transformed into higher beings. When a mortal drinks from us, they accept Christ into their bodies, and Christ will guide them. The blood is the life. Finally, look at the vampires among us. Vampires! Such an evilsounding word with such grace behind it. Look at these beautiful angels who have dedicated their lives to spreading God’s mercy. Our limitations are not a curse! They are a blessing, for the need to go by night keeps us humble. This is an example of God’s wisdom: So many of our kind have rejected their true purpose. They should have embraced the humility offered by our curse, but instead they have dedicated themselves to denying His kingdom! Listen to my words, for they spring from the blood of Jesus Christ. Look at the blood running from my wrists! This is his blood, his mark! As it flows along my arms and drips to the floor, any who humble themselves and kneel to drink of it will be blessed! Come forth, kneel, drink, sacrifice your blood on the altar, mark yourselves with its crimson perfection! I see the holy spirit moving among you! Rend the flesh from each other to get to the salvation flowing in your veins! Prostrate yourselves before God’s disciples on Earth! Allow a dark angel to touch your spirit and your body! The blood is the life! Consider Numbers twentythree: “Behold, a people rises like a lioness, And as a lion it lifts itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.” This people is our people! This is God’s message: “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!” We are not here to be judged by God. We are God, messengers and Shepherds, enforcers of divine will. Our blood drives us true and keeps us in the path of the righteous. As long as we listen to the voice of the blood we cannot err. As you lie wounded and satiated, saved or blessed, consider the real nature of this tiny community. We have been granted the greatest gift of all, and it’s happened right here, in this very town. We know God’s will and are ready to bring it forth here on Earth, to help all the peoples find salvation and hope of redemption. This will be our great work. It starts inside these wooden walls, in this small town, with these people around you: Farmers, shopkeepers, miners. Good people all. These people are the first sacrifices who will give us the strength to bring true atonement to the world. After all, the blood is the life. Amen. ■
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VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 8 The Parasite Way Agata: So basically you’re a tapeworm. Rudi: Stop calling me a tapeworm. It’s beyond insulting. Agata: I’m serious. You’re a parasite infesting a body. You’re living inside an organism, growing at the expense of your host. Rudi: You’re too cynical about this. We have a lot of options... Agata: Maybe the tapeworm is the wrong analogy. You know that Amazonian fungus which will take over an ant and start controlling it? Rudi: First I’m a tapeworm and now I’m a fungus. There’s a reason nobody likes you, Agata. Agata: Okay, I got a better one. You’re a hormone. Like a substance that blends into the normal operations of the body, subtly directing its actions. Rudi: I think we have a serious messaging problem. When you go to the Camarilla, they tell you that you’re one of the Kindred, an eternal secret society of hidden masters shepherding humanity on its winding course through history. When you come to us, we tell you that you’re a tapeworm. Or a fungus. Agata: I thought the hormone analogy was good. Rudi: Nobody wants to be a hormone. Don’t be stupid. Agata: Talk to me like that again and I’ll kill you. Rudi: <silence> Agata: Come on, it was a joke! Why do people always overreact when I threaten to kill them? Rudi: I’m not going to answer that. But we got to consider our message. We need to give our kind something they can believe in. Something to make them proud. Agata: I’m a proud tapeworm. Rudi: You’re a lick, a bloodsucker, a vampire. Like me, you live among humanity. Not as a hidden master, Camarilla style, but as one of them. Just different. Agata: I love it when you talk like that. It makes me feel like a real girl. Rudi: I guess that’s something. Agata: I love it when you talk like that. It makes me feel like a real girl. Rudi: I guess that's something.
VAMPIRE – THE MASQUERADE – ANARCH NIGHTS OF THE UNBOUND 4 9 In the first article of her series “Subculture Parasites”, Chinasa Adeyemi interviews the Finnish black metal groupie and Brujah Karoliina Koski. Blood rituals and Satanic black masses. Finland has the largest number of metal bands per capita of any country in the world, clocking in at 53,5 bands per 100,000 people. The runners up Norway and Sweden only manage 27,2 each. The metal and especially black metal scene seems like an obvious choice for a lick who wants to dabble in blood and blasphemy without attracting suspicion. Or at least, without attracting more suspicion than your average church-burning Satanist. Karoliina Koski is a young vampire who’s spent years as a black metal groupie, following bands all around the country. Satan's Politics I have to ask the most obvious question first. Have you ever felt the urge to create your own music? I did actually, when I was still human. This was in the late Nineties. I had a band, or maybe it was more of a one-person music project, called Lilith’s Satanic Flood. It was actually pretty tough going because the scene is so misogynistic. I remember one time I stabbed myself into the arm during a gig, and later I was accused of faking it. I didn’t fake it! I had ten stitches after that. This was before you became one of us? Yes, definitely. I was much more hardcore when I was human. You know, spitting blood into the audience only makes sense if you’re still breathing. If you’re a vampire, you’re going to swallow. DAWN OF SATAN’S MILLENNIUM BY: CHINASA ADEYEMI
