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Strigany

2023-01-28T15:20:00Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:5446:E194:E668:6A04:

{{whfb-stub}}
[[File:Strigani.jpg|thumb|[[The End Times|"Ah yes, I see terrible things, death shall wash over the world, the very earth shall shatter and all shall be consumed in the ravening masses of vermin and Chaos!"]] "Wow really?" "Eh maybe, or could just be another shitty day, anyway that'll be 8 Marks."]]

The '''Strigany''' are a human ethnicity native to the Old World in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] about which we don't actually know very much. The little that we do know boils down to them being Warhammer's [[gypsy]] people, the descendants of a fallen empire built before [[Sigmar]] by the [[Vampire Count]] [[Ushoran]], patriarch of the [[Strigoi]] bloodline. Unlike most vampire lords, Ushoran was actually a pretty decent leader, and the Strigany thrived under his rule... until that jealous bitch [[Queen Neferata]] of the [[Lahmian]]s declared war on Ushoran out of spite, exhausting his defenses so that they were left helpless when a great [[WAAAGH]] swept through. The survivors fled north, but found themselves hated and persecuted by the tribes who would become the Empire, condemning them to a life of wandering vagabonds. For all of these reasons, the Strigany hate the Empire and are some of the only people willing to actively support and assist the Strigoi.

{{Vampire Count Troops}}

Strigoi

2023-01-28T15:17:45Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:5446:E194:E668:6A04: /* Relations */

{{stub}}
Strigoi is an old Romanian word derived from Latin referring to a supernatural creature, usually a vampire. In tabletop gaming context it refers the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]].

If the Von Carsteins are the Warhammer version of Bela Legosi, the Strigois are the Nosferatus, at least after Count Orlok hit the gym. They're hulking, bald (baring the occasional quill), taloned jagged fanged feral predators. Despite this they still retain considerable intelligence.
==History==
The Strigoi are mutant vampires descended from [[Ushoran]], the younger brother of bitch [[Queen Neferata]]. Old lore had it that she would bully him and deliberately didn't make him a vampire so she had someone to look down on, he in turn stole the partial recipe of her elixir of immortality and the result made him the bestial mutant vampire we know. New lore has it that she willingly made him a vampire and he served as a diplomat prior to being cursed as a more monstrous type of vampire. However, in both versions it ended with Ushoran leaving his sister to realize his ambitions and carve out his own kingdom.

After many years of wandering, Ushoran found Mourkain, a small vampire kingdom created by a barbarian shaman Kadon, who wore the Crown of Nagash and worshipped the Great Necromancer as a god. He easily couped Kadon and changed some of his laws, such as removing the worship of Nagash and restoring [[Abhorash|Abhorash's]] principle to feed only on criminals. Those reforms were pretty successful, and even non-vampires started to respect Ushoran as their leader. Meanwhile, his newly acquired fame insulted Neferata, and she became jealous. Extremely jealous.

She waged a war against Mourkain, and while Ushoran managed to eventually defeat her armies, the [[Greenskin|Greenskins]] knocked on the door and turned the unprepared kingdom into a literal wasteland. With the death of their King and the total annihilation of their country, most of the Strigoi degenerated, turned into a wild predators that prey in a dark and secret places, hunting on the hermits and Ghouls. But they still have memories about Mourkain, and they are slowly preparing to rise again and restore the empire....

== Strigany ==
If you're wandering what happened to the non-dead population of Mourkain, it fled to the north, in the lands of the future Empire, which proved to be a great mistake. Most of the human tribes already hated them as a Vampire slaves, and the hate only strengthened when they arrive to their land. Having nowhere to run (seriously, other choices are [[Nehekhara]] and [[Dark Lands]]), they stayed there.

Several thousand years have passed, and nothing really changed. Everyone hates them (with some exceptions like the [[Kislev|northern kislevites]]), and '''especially''' the Witch Hunters, who have little to no mercy to those people. They travel in caravans or small barges and call themselves Strigany (Warhammer Gypsies, huh...), have a little knowledge of fortune telling, and <s>overall are pretty good guys, even if some of them are extremely necrofiliac and still worship Vampires</s>{{BLAM|BLAM! THEY'RE STILL VAMPIRE SLAVES YOU IDIOT!}}

==Relations==

*[[Lahmian|Neferata's Fanclub]]: Sir Witchunter the recent deaths in the province are due to freakish wildlife attacks theyre causing quite a ruckus i urge you to endeavor to rid civilized society of these beasts.

*'''[[Blood Dragon|Blood Dragons]]''': They hate the Strigoi and hunt them like an animals, calling them a dishonorable fucks [[Derp|"Ironically Abhorash himself grew to hate the schemes of Neferata & fought to defend Strygos"]]

*[[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)| Most Humans]] : Strigoi whats that? all i heard of were bout them giant ugly monsters who ate Hans's cattle farm we had a famine that winter.

*[[Strigany|Strigany]] : Strygos will rise again!! milord why are you chewing on that animal carcass?

==Named Characters==
NOTE: Characters unique to the Age Of Sigmar [[Flesh-eater Courts]] are not counted as Strigoi, and will not be listed since the term “Abhorrant” has replaced Strigoi as a signifier of Ghoul King allegiance.

* Ushoran
Progenitor of the Bloodline. Canon splits into what happened to him at Mourkain, some sources saying he simply died and others that he survived. It was generally thought the former was canon since it was in army books and the latter in [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] supplements until his own book [[Ancient Blood]] was released, showing him saving some Strigany from a Nazi-like Gypsy purge and leading them to rebuild their empire. Although he was one of the dropped plots for [[End Times]], [[Josh Reynolds]] attempted to give fans closure on many things (before GW ordered him to stop and declare them fanfiction) with Ushoran actually gathering the loyalist Strigoi, before it all vanishes into the dark of the final battle. Despite that, Games Workshop made Josh’s story canon with Ushoran confirmed alive and surviving into [[Age Of Sigmar]] where the madness of the Bloodline finally claimed him as he delusionally believes himself to be ruling the rebuilt Mourkain when in reality he’s a wandering monster that infects everything around him with madness turning men into similarly-deluded Ghouls faster than if they had participated in cannibalism. Meanwhile, in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] Ushoran simply rules some of his Bloodline who have returned to Nehekhara; although not present in the game, he is still the faction leader.

* [[Vorag Bloodytooth]]
Ushoran was the first Strigoi, but Vorag was the first Strigoi Ghoul King since Ushoran prefers mostly to live with the Strigany. He encountered Ghouls while fleeing the fall of Mourkain and a Von Carstein hunting party pursuing him for sport. His newfound friends slaughtered the Vampires before he set out to return to Mourkain. He destroyed every Greenskin in his path until finally being killed. Somehow all other Strigoi heard of him and seek to follow his example...or just luck into it like he did.

* [[Urzen The Unrelenting]]
Took Vorag’s basic idea, only with vengeance on his mind. As Mourkain’s top military advisor he learned not only how to conduct war, but also Ushoran’s spymaster ways. Urzen wants to destroy the Lahmians and does so in a manner far more befitting one than a Strigoi. Urzen is responsible for humanity’s effectiveness in fighting Vampires as he uses agents to teach them Vampire secrets, lead gifted warriors to magical items, and baits Witch Hunters to Lahmian covens. He’s stated to hate Lahmians exclusively, steering mankind away from other Bloodlines. He also still a little nuts, since he tries to instill military discipline into both Ghouls and Zombies in his fucking massive army via drills and parades.

* [[Gashnag The Black Prince]]
One of the offspring of Vorag, Gashnag is the single most successful post-Mourkain Strigoi. Ruling an unnamed kingdom in the Border Princes, Gashnag paid bards and spread rumors that he’s simply an amazing genius heroic nobleman that was cursed to look like a monster. His trusted human advisors know his true nature, and help keep the illusion. Whenever something threatens his kingdom he rides out under cover of darkness as well as the more literal cover of a black cloak to butcher the unsuspecting foes, returning to plant their heads on spikes in the town square then return to his castle.

* [[Mad Orlock]]
One of the big players of [[The Thousand Thrones]] supplement for WFRP. Strigoi interpreted prophesies about of a young boy named Karl who was supposedly Sigmar reborn to have involved Nagash turning Sigmar into a Vampire before he became a god. Orlock believes the Bloodlines have become too weak and mixed for any true Vampire hero to be born of being turned, so he decided to kidnap Karl and have all the Bloodlines infect him. He simply assumes each Bloodline will be present on (un)holy ground aside from the Blood Dragons who he figured would ignore the call , leading him to kidnap one. Soon he intends to turn Karl into the God Emperor Of Vampkind...or rather he would, if it weren’t for the truth of it. The Black Witch, an Undivided Chaos Champion who became a ghost, sent out a fake prophesy to all the Bloodlines. In reality she needs Karl, a Chaos mutant with a nonstop natural Jedi Mind Trick, to be brought to Kislev where she can possess him then feed on one of each of the Bloodlines to take over his body and bring about a Charisma-based End Times. The final layer of intrigue is that its all a plan by Nagash for his fourth resurrection.
Ignoring the idea that the disconnect between the wargame and RPG canons is too vast, then we have several options for Orlock’s ultimate fate; either he was killed, one of the other Vampires was killed, or Karl died or was convinced to banish the Black Witch to the void; its an option to have one of the Vampire prophesies true and given we know (or do we?) Sigmar wasn’t a Vampire then Orlock was for sure wrong. The ending options suggests successful parties may have one of the Vampires take an interest in them, possibly allow/force them to join that Bloodline.

* [[Nanosh]]
A Strigoi Ghoul King pirate. Secretly taken aboard the ship Unternehmung when the captain hired Strigany crewmen. When the ship rations “mysteriously” went rotten the Strigany lead a mutiny. The captain and those loyal to him were cooked and fed to the traitors until they became Ghouls, whereupon Nanosh went above deck and assumed captainship. They’ve become one of the most feared crews of pirates, raiding ships and towns at night for living meat instead of treasure or slaves.

* Karkanoth
A [[Nosantra]], more specifically a Ghoul King who betrayed the Strigoi to become one of the few lieutenants of [[Mannfred von Carstein]] to survive his first defeat. Introduced in End Times.

* Druthor
Another Strigoi expatriate, this time in service to [[Krell]] in End Times. Formerly “ruled” the “kingdom” of Grimbarrow, a forgotten charnel pit for a forgotten dead populace. Has a Terrorgheist. The Bloodbeasts are three [[Varghulf]] who began following him as he raided sites to sate his thirst, and he kept them as pets on chain leashes until needed. The Graveclaws are his Ghouls, who were the residents of Grimbarrow before Druthor came that began worshiping him as a god.

* Anhurit
A female Strigoi from a WFRP supplement blurb intended to show how Vampires see the world. She waits for a grave robber to dig up a serial killer’s body while she sits hidden in the shadows and watches the Death magic interact with the environment as well as the invisible ghosts, those who know they’re dead and those that don’t (like said murderer trying to stab him over and over). Once the corpse is exhumed and the robber claims the corpse’s ring Anhurit jumps into the grave and cuts off the hands of the corpse with her claws. After the grave robber shits himself she tells him he is spared because he’s a good digger and leaves. We don’t know what she needed the hands for.

* Yudas The Shadow King
Terrorized Wissenland, butchering women because in his madness he thought they were his cheating wife.

==Gallery==
{{promotions}}
<gallery>
Image: Strigoi Ghoul King Naked.jpeg|The blood runs cold, if you know what we mean...
Image: Strigoi Ghoul Queen Naked.jpeg|We’re torn between “meat on her bones” and “coccyx” jokes.
</gallery>

{{Vampire-Counts-Bloodlines}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]

==D&D Strigoi==
{{dnd-stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}
Strigoi were added to [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] in [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]]. They used to be common [[stirge]]s, but were transformed by magic into humanoid stirges. With the increased size came formidable new strength and a monstrously augmented appetite; a strigoi doesn't simply suck blood like its lesser kin, but instead liquifies the entirety of the bodily contents - blood, bones, tissue, organs, everything - and then sucks it out like a giant tick, leaving behind nothing but a hollow, deflated skin. Which might rise as a [[boneless]].

[[Category: Monsters]]

Strigoi

2023-01-28T15:17:31Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:5446:E194:E668:6A04: /* Relations */

{{stub}}
Strigoi is an old Romanian word derived from Latin referring to a supernatural creature, usually a vampire. In tabletop gaming context it refers the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]].

If the Von Carsteins are the Warhammer version of Bela Legosi, the Strigois are the Nosferatus, at least after Count Orlok hit the gym. They're hulking, bald (baring the occasional quill), taloned jagged fanged feral predators. Despite this they still retain considerable intelligence.
==History==
The Strigoi are mutant vampires descended from [[Ushoran]], the younger brother of bitch [[Queen Neferata]]. Old lore had it that she would bully him and deliberately didn't make him a vampire so she had someone to look down on, he in turn stole the partial recipe of her elixir of immortality and the result made him the bestial mutant vampire we know. New lore has it that she willingly made him a vampire and he served as a diplomat prior to being cursed as a more monstrous type of vampire. However, in both versions it ended with Ushoran leaving his sister to realize his ambitions and carve out his own kingdom.

After many years of wandering, Ushoran found Mourkain, a small vampire kingdom created by a barbarian shaman Kadon, who wore the Crown of Nagash and worshipped the Great Necromancer as a god. He easily couped Kadon and changed some of his laws, such as removing the worship of Nagash and restoring [[Abhorash|Abhorash's]] principle to feed only on criminals. Those reforms were pretty successful, and even non-vampires started to respect Ushoran as their leader. Meanwhile, his newly acquired fame insulted Neferata, and she became jealous. Extremely jealous.

She waged a war against Mourkain, and while Ushoran managed to eventually defeat her armies, the [[Greenskin|Greenskins]] knocked on the door and turned the unprepared kingdom into a literal wasteland. With the death of their King and the total annihilation of their country, most of the Strigoi degenerated, turned into a wild predators that prey in a dark and secret places, hunting on the hermits and Ghouls. But they still have memories about Mourkain, and they are slowly preparing to rise again and restore the empire....

== Strigany ==
If you're wandering what happened to the non-dead population of Mourkain, it fled to the north, in the lands of the future Empire, which proved to be a great mistake. Most of the human tribes already hated them as a Vampire slaves, and the hate only strengthened when they arrive to their land. Having nowhere to run (seriously, other choices are [[Nehekhara]] and [[Dark Lands]]), they stayed there.

Several thousand years have passed, and nothing really changed. Everyone hates them (with some exceptions like the [[Kislev|northern kislevites]]), and '''especially''' the Witch Hunters, who have little to no mercy to those people. They travel in caravans or small barges and call themselves Strigany (Warhammer Gypsies, huh...), have a little knowledge of fortune telling, and <s>overall are pretty good guys, even if some of them are extremely necrofiliac and still worship Vampires</s>{{BLAM|BLAM! THEY'RE STILL VAMPIRE SLAVES YOU IDIOT!}}

==Relations==

*[Lahmian|Neferata's Fanclub]]: Sir Witchunter the recent deaths in the province are due to freakish wildlife attacks theyre causing quite a ruckus i urge you to endeavor to rid civilized society of these beasts.

*'''[[Blood Dragon|Blood Dragons]]''': They hate the Strigoi and hunt them like an animals, calling them a dishonorable fucks [[Derp|"Ironically Abhorash himself grew to hate the schemes of Neferata & fought to defend Strygos"]]

*[[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)| Most Humans]] : Strigoi whats that? all i heard of were bout them giant ugly monsters who ate Hans's cattle farm we had a famine that winter.

*[[Strigany|Strigany]] : Strygos will rise again!! milord why are you chewing on that animal carcass?

==Named Characters==
NOTE: Characters unique to the Age Of Sigmar [[Flesh-eater Courts]] are not counted as Strigoi, and will not be listed since the term “Abhorrant” has replaced Strigoi as a signifier of Ghoul King allegiance.

* Ushoran
Progenitor of the Bloodline. Canon splits into what happened to him at Mourkain, some sources saying he simply died and others that he survived. It was generally thought the former was canon since it was in army books and the latter in [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] supplements until his own book [[Ancient Blood]] was released, showing him saving some Strigany from a Nazi-like Gypsy purge and leading them to rebuild their empire. Although he was one of the dropped plots for [[End Times]], [[Josh Reynolds]] attempted to give fans closure on many things (before GW ordered him to stop and declare them fanfiction) with Ushoran actually gathering the loyalist Strigoi, before it all vanishes into the dark of the final battle. Despite that, Games Workshop made Josh’s story canon with Ushoran confirmed alive and surviving into [[Age Of Sigmar]] where the madness of the Bloodline finally claimed him as he delusionally believes himself to be ruling the rebuilt Mourkain when in reality he’s a wandering monster that infects everything around him with madness turning men into similarly-deluded Ghouls faster than if they had participated in cannibalism. Meanwhile, in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] Ushoran simply rules some of his Bloodline who have returned to Nehekhara; although not present in the game, he is still the faction leader.

* [[Vorag Bloodytooth]]
Ushoran was the first Strigoi, but Vorag was the first Strigoi Ghoul King since Ushoran prefers mostly to live with the Strigany. He encountered Ghouls while fleeing the fall of Mourkain and a Von Carstein hunting party pursuing him for sport. His newfound friends slaughtered the Vampires before he set out to return to Mourkain. He destroyed every Greenskin in his path until finally being killed. Somehow all other Strigoi heard of him and seek to follow his example...or just luck into it like he did.

* [[Urzen The Unrelenting]]
Took Vorag’s basic idea, only with vengeance on his mind. As Mourkain’s top military advisor he learned not only how to conduct war, but also Ushoran’s spymaster ways. Urzen wants to destroy the Lahmians and does so in a manner far more befitting one than a Strigoi. Urzen is responsible for humanity’s effectiveness in fighting Vampires as he uses agents to teach them Vampire secrets, lead gifted warriors to magical items, and baits Witch Hunters to Lahmian covens. He’s stated to hate Lahmians exclusively, steering mankind away from other Bloodlines. He also still a little nuts, since he tries to instill military discipline into both Ghouls and Zombies in his fucking massive army via drills and parades.

* [[Gashnag The Black Prince]]
One of the offspring of Vorag, Gashnag is the single most successful post-Mourkain Strigoi. Ruling an unnamed kingdom in the Border Princes, Gashnag paid bards and spread rumors that he’s simply an amazing genius heroic nobleman that was cursed to look like a monster. His trusted human advisors know his true nature, and help keep the illusion. Whenever something threatens his kingdom he rides out under cover of darkness as well as the more literal cover of a black cloak to butcher the unsuspecting foes, returning to plant their heads on spikes in the town square then return to his castle.

* [[Mad Orlock]]
One of the big players of [[The Thousand Thrones]] supplement for WFRP. Strigoi interpreted prophesies about of a young boy named Karl who was supposedly Sigmar reborn to have involved Nagash turning Sigmar into a Vampire before he became a god. Orlock believes the Bloodlines have become too weak and mixed for any true Vampire hero to be born of being turned, so he decided to kidnap Karl and have all the Bloodlines infect him. He simply assumes each Bloodline will be present on (un)holy ground aside from the Blood Dragons who he figured would ignore the call , leading him to kidnap one. Soon he intends to turn Karl into the God Emperor Of Vampkind...or rather he would, if it weren’t for the truth of it. The Black Witch, an Undivided Chaos Champion who became a ghost, sent out a fake prophesy to all the Bloodlines. In reality she needs Karl, a Chaos mutant with a nonstop natural Jedi Mind Trick, to be brought to Kislev where she can possess him then feed on one of each of the Bloodlines to take over his body and bring about a Charisma-based End Times. The final layer of intrigue is that its all a plan by Nagash for his fourth resurrection.
Ignoring the idea that the disconnect between the wargame and RPG canons is too vast, then we have several options for Orlock’s ultimate fate; either he was killed, one of the other Vampires was killed, or Karl died or was convinced to banish the Black Witch to the void; its an option to have one of the Vampire prophesies true and given we know (or do we?) Sigmar wasn’t a Vampire then Orlock was for sure wrong. The ending options suggests successful parties may have one of the Vampires take an interest in them, possibly allow/force them to join that Bloodline.

* [[Nanosh]]
A Strigoi Ghoul King pirate. Secretly taken aboard the ship Unternehmung when the captain hired Strigany crewmen. When the ship rations “mysteriously” went rotten the Strigany lead a mutiny. The captain and those loyal to him were cooked and fed to the traitors until they became Ghouls, whereupon Nanosh went above deck and assumed captainship. They’ve become one of the most feared crews of pirates, raiding ships and towns at night for living meat instead of treasure or slaves.

* Karkanoth
A [[Nosantra]], more specifically a Ghoul King who betrayed the Strigoi to become one of the few lieutenants of [[Mannfred von Carstein]] to survive his first defeat. Introduced in End Times.

* Druthor
Another Strigoi expatriate, this time in service to [[Krell]] in End Times. Formerly “ruled” the “kingdom” of Grimbarrow, a forgotten charnel pit for a forgotten dead populace. Has a Terrorgheist. The Bloodbeasts are three [[Varghulf]] who began following him as he raided sites to sate his thirst, and he kept them as pets on chain leashes until needed. The Graveclaws are his Ghouls, who were the residents of Grimbarrow before Druthor came that began worshiping him as a god.

* Anhurit
A female Strigoi from a WFRP supplement blurb intended to show how Vampires see the world. She waits for a grave robber to dig up a serial killer’s body while she sits hidden in the shadows and watches the Death magic interact with the environment as well as the invisible ghosts, those who know they’re dead and those that don’t (like said murderer trying to stab him over and over). Once the corpse is exhumed and the robber claims the corpse’s ring Anhurit jumps into the grave and cuts off the hands of the corpse with her claws. After the grave robber shits himself she tells him he is spared because he’s a good digger and leaves. We don’t know what she needed the hands for.

* Yudas The Shadow King
Terrorized Wissenland, butchering women because in his madness he thought they were his cheating wife.

==Gallery==
{{promotions}}
<gallery>
Image: Strigoi Ghoul King Naked.jpeg|The blood runs cold, if you know what we mean...
Image: Strigoi Ghoul Queen Naked.jpeg|We’re torn between “meat on her bones” and “coccyx” jokes.
</gallery>

{{Vampire-Counts-Bloodlines}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]

==D&D Strigoi==
{{dnd-stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}
Strigoi were added to [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] in [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]]. They used to be common [[stirge]]s, but were transformed by magic into humanoid stirges. With the increased size came formidable new strength and a monstrously augmented appetite; a strigoi doesn't simply suck blood like its lesser kin, but instead liquifies the entirety of the bodily contents - blood, bones, tissue, organs, everything - and then sucks it out like a giant tick, leaving behind nothing but a hollow, deflated skin. Which might rise as a [[boneless]].

[[Category: Monsters]]

Sabbat (Vampire)

2023-01-28T13:32:15Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:5446:E194:E668:6A04: /* Civil Wars */

[[File:Sabbat.png|100px|thumb|right|The symbol of the Sabbat. Looks kinda similar to the Camarilla's, huh?]]
The '''Sabbat''', also known as the Sword of Caine, are a very loose, angry group of Kindred who fucking HATE the traditions set by the [[Camarilla]]. They're also batshit crazy, and cause a shitload of ruckus and trouble for other Kindred. Their main goal is to fuck up the Camarilla as much as they can.

==History==
The Sabbat was founded in 1493, mostly as a reaction to the Convention of Thorns, which was the founding of the Camarilla. They made up the members of the Anarch Revolt who were still pretty pissed. The leaders of the endeavor were members of the [[Tzimisce]] and the [[Lasombra]] clans. Both of whom had destroyed their Antediluvian founders and accepted there was no going back. The Tzimisce weren't going to give their lands to the Tremere, who they outright fucking *hated*. The Lasombra had invested way too much into the revolt to just give up their success to a bunch of old assholes. In the words of their representative, ''"I came to negotiate, not to surrender."''
Delegations from both clans met up at an Island near Spain and started making up their own negotiations, along with some still-annoyed [[Anarchs]]. These Anarchs either didn't want to surrender to the Elders, or didn't agree with their Clan's choices. Others joined up to escape the Blood Bond practice, and even a few elders showed up. Namely, the [[Malkavian]] [[Vasantasena]], the [[Tremere]] [[Goratrix,]] and the [[Ventrue]] [[Dominique Touraine]]. These groups basically lived innawoods, doing hit and run tactics on the holdings of the Elders and anyone who had sided with the Camarilla. Mortals named them "Sabbats" due to their crazy behavior, and the way they flaunted how inhuman they were. Slowly, the packs were brought together and eventually the remnants of the Anarch Revolt became the Sabbat. A sect dedicated to warfare against the Camarilla, their Elders and Antediluvian leaders, and everyone else involved.

A bitter war was raged between the newly-made Sabbat and the not too much older Camarilla. [[The Inquisition]] kept fucking up Kindred populations while all of Europe's vampires started to choose sides. The Camarilla started to get a better hold on major cities, and the Sabbat were forced onto the defensive. Despite open protests against it as a tool of the Antediluvians, the Sabbat Elders realized keeping Vampires a secret was maybe not such a terrible idea after all, and tried it out for themselves. Besides Spain, mostly controlled by the Lasombra, and Eastern Europe/Scandinavia, full of Tzimisce, most packs traveled to the new world. And, for a good while, the Sect did great. Due to the Revolution and war happening, it was super easy for them to hide.

==Civil Wars==
The large numbers of Sabbat in the Americas did cause a couple of problems though. Soon a bunch of Camarilla vampires started coming over too, hoping to carve out their own legacies away from the Princes of Europe. Because of a lack of organization, an internal struggle between the Lasombra and Tzimisce was ensured. Which then resulted in the [[First Sabbat Civil War]]. The war did so much damage to themselves the Cammies were able to take a ton of territory of off them. After 30 years of infighting, a 'Purchase Pact' was made forbidding Sabbat members to attack each other. Of course, War brings out the worst in people, and Kindred too.

Sure enough, yet another wave of in-fighting happened causing the [[Second Sabbat Civil War]]. Grouping together in New York, while the Sabbat ''had'' managed to hold their own just barely, High-Ranking Sabbat started to reconsider some things. Namely if they still agreed with the Sect's actual cause. Not happy to just sign another goodwill agreement, they took a long, hard look at what had happened to the 'Sword Of Caine'. So, they did something completely unheard of before. A congregation of Sabbat got together to make the 'Code Of Milan'. In theory, it was meant to be what the Sabbat actually stood for. It was approved by the new Regent of the Sabbat, Melinda Galbraith, as well as several members of the Black Hand. (The Sabbat's Combat arm.) It also established Mexico City as being the official unofficial capital of the Sabbat.

During times of struggle, the Sabbat had managed to hold onto some of the Major cities even through their internal wars. Some, like Philadelphia remained in Sabbat control 'cause of the sheer number of Black Hand members living there. The Sabbat began to develop along two lines - city Kindred and nomadic Kindred. Most of the nomadic Kindred were packs that fled their cities after being defeated by the Camarilla, or other Sabbat members. The city Kindred maintained permanent havens, and started to seem more and more like the Camarilla. They inserted themselves into the infrastructure of their cities, while the nomadic Kindred traveled the land, never staying in one place for too long.

The [[Third Sabbat Civil War]] was the shortest of the three, only lasting for 100 nights in 1957. It was caused by a failed Coup performed by [[Brujah]] Sabbat members, and lead to a ton of violence yet again. The war was ended due to a peace treaty involving Caitiff and the unified Lasombra and Tzimisces.

==Modern Nights==
In the modern nights, the Sabbat have taken a metric ass-ton of offensive fronts to the Camarilla, but also suffered from internal disputes. They gained Atlanta and Washington D.C courtesy of some underhanded dickery involving a Sabbat decapitation strike on a Camarilla meeting and a Lasombra impersonating the local Prince, respectively. However, they also lost NYC to equally-underhanded Camarilla dickery involving industrial "accidents" and co-ordinated Blood Hunts, while Archbishop Giangaleazzo of Milan spectacularly defected to the Camarilla by locking all the present Sabbat in a building, giving them an impressive "You all suck!" speech, and setting the whole place on fire.

The Destruction of the Tremere Sabbat and attacks on Mexican Sabbat holdings by unknown parties have also sucked, but there have also been a few good things. They gained some new allies - the [[Salubri]] Sabbat, and the [[Harbingers of Skulls]], who joined the Sabbat to exact vengeance against their enemies. The Black Hand, once a super-stable part of the Sabbat, have fell into some troubles. There's been a lot of in-fighting due to the 'True' Black Hand. And to add icing to the cake, The Regent has been slain, but only the one who did it and is pretending to be her knows that. Waiting for the moment when her charade, (or Masquerade) falls through.

==Culture==
The Sabbat, despite what you might expect, actually have a lot of ways to show they're on the same side. They have their own gang colour (Purple), an official symbol (See image), and tons of gang-signs, code words, passwords, gestures, secret handshakes and more that are *supposed* to help them identify each other. In reality though, very few Sabbat members know all of them, and have to learn to recognize one another by face.
Usually only a Bishop or Archbishop (Think more or less a Sabbat Baron/Prince) can recognize every single Sabbat member in their domain, which of course is a total pain in the ass to do. Even worse so with nomadic packs of 'em. On top of all this, the individual packs of the Sabbat can have their own symbol, gesture, or other way of identifying themselves. Undercover Sabbat packs have even more secret and complicated ones.

Its become common for younger pack members to start wearing crucifixes, or have them tattooed somewhere. They do it because they find it hilarious, the irony of being damned but wearing something symbols of God and Salvation. Older, more mature Lasombra think the pratice is annoying as hell, or sometimes even blasphemous, even if they wear such a cross themselves. Fucking hypocrites. Their argument is that the neonates do not believe in their own damnation, or in God's immortal power over their souls. And they... apparently do? Weird cunts.

A lot of neonates in the Sabbat wonder why they need to be so damn sneaky all the time. The whole point of the Sabbat, after all, is to tear down the Camarilla and Masquerade and rule humans openly. Sabbat elders don't give an answer, given they lived through the Inquisition, and even some Bishops struggle to think up a good response. The typical attitude is that being a 'True Sabbat' is a matter of importance and distinction. You can't just have anyone and everyone waltzing in and claiming all the rights of being a Sabbat member if they haven't proved themselves. And given the pack structure of the Sabbat, many members think of themselves as being in a gang, or warband. Even have their own initiation rites and other ways of making themselves feel more special. D'aww.

The higher up one goes in the Sabbat ranks, the less frequently such symbols are seen, and the attitude of "Us against the world" turns into "ME against the world." In order to survive long enough to even reach that high up, a Kindred needs to be able to live for themselves. Fight hard for every single scrap of profit or any advantage they can get their grubby hands on. Unlike the Camarilla, the ranking isn't as rigid and as such there's no one to promote each other. The only rank and title they have is what they have the power to take. Both the Tzimisce and the Lasombra encourage this dog-eat-dog culture, as its almost like a form of natural selection. In their eyes, this way only the strongest, smartest and most capable sabbat end up leading. The rest are useless canon fodder.

==Ritae==
The Sabbat loves their ideas of loyalty and bonds above all else. To help with this, the sect's created a bunch of rituals, basically team building exercises.

==Organization==
The Sabbat see themselves as the Army Of Caine, and as such try to make themselves as tight-knit-group. The Sabbat is mainly full of kindred from Clans Tzimisce and Lasombra and numerous antitribu from Clans normally independent or associated with the Camarilla. Sabbat can sire childer like normal, and are no less picky than other vampires about it. However, during a War effort, they often perform a mass embrace. These poor bastards are usually knocked over the head, embraced and then buried. By the time the so-called 'Shovelhead' has clawed back up, he's understandably pretty pissed and confused. They're then pointed in the direction of the enemy and sent loose. Most Shovelheads don't survive their first few weeks and are considered to be 'False Sabbat', and are given no respect at all from other members. Once they have proven themselves multiple times, they're taken in, given rites, etc etc. Childer who are specifically chosen to be Embraced don't have to prove themselves, as they were picked rather than mass embraced.

The cornerstone of Sabbat organization is the pack; groups of 3-10 kindred, all mutually bound by blood-sharing rites of the sect. Packs have a warlord leader, known as a ductus, and a chaplin known as a Pack Priest. The latter's job is to remind the pack of their responsibilities to Caine. As mentioned earlier, the Pack is bound a blood-sharing rite. Its called a vinculum, and is like the mortal equivalent of blood brothers. Just a bigger deal and a lower risk of getting HIV. Packs generally occupy communal havens.

==Hierarchy==
Above the pack is a set of hierarchical titles specifically mocking the titles of the Catholic Church. Bishops oversee multiple packs, and overseeing them are Archbishops, who are almost the Sabbat equivalent of a Prince. They make up the Consistory, the governing body that selects the Regent. Advising the Regent, Consistory, and Archbishops, or other leaders are the Prisci. A group that are Elders and other well-respected Sabbat who both advise and act as Judges. The higher ranks of the Sabbat enforce their will through agents commonly called Templars or Paladins, depending on rank.

The hierarchy from Highest to Lowest is as follows:
# Regent - Basically the president of the entire Sabbat. They're selected by the Consistory, which is basically a Roman senate comprised of thirteen Cardinals and a few Prisci.
# Cardinal - Overseers of large areas - Canada, the East Coast, that sort of stuff. They're responsible for conquering cities in Sabbat-claimed territories and act as generals in the Jyhad.
# Priscus (Singular Prisci) - The viziers and advisors to Archbishops and Cardinals. Their rank is technically ceremonial and without 'official' power, but their political and strategic capabilities mean this supposed powerlessness is mostly bollocks. Usually they're Elders, or very close to them in terms of age and power.
# Archbishop - Sabbat Princes. Usually in charge of a city, acting as equal parts warlord and priest to the Sabbat packs. Tend to have quite the hard time keeping the young, angry Sabbat Kindred in line and focused on the wider Jyhad as opposed to just smashing shit.
# Bishop - The Sabbat's 'senior officer' cadre. These guys generally oversee certain aspects of a domain, like ensuring the Masquerade is upheld (for practical reasons), advising the local boss, or otherwise dealing with specific aspects of the Sabbat's agenda.
# Templar/Paladin - Elite bodyguards and hitmen that exclusively serve the Sabbat's upper ranks. Their job basically amounts to being glorified legbreakers for the local Archbishop or Inquisitor when they need a bit of the old ultra-violence to be applied in a specific place. Paladins are basically uber-Templars, being bound to serve a single Cardinal exclusively and gank anyone their boss doesn't like. Notably, they're also both banned from membership in the Black Hand for being team-killing fucktards; while a couple Templars have tried to join, they [[Blam|"mysteriously disappeared"]] on the way to take their initiation trials. The rest of the Sabbat doesn't really like them either, for [[Kharn|obvious reasons]].
## Inquisitors - Exactly what the name implies. They're essentially Templars with a boner for enforcing the Sabbat's views, killing infernalists, and ensuring anyone who preaches [[Heresy|HERESY!]] eats dirt and dies. Their boss, the Grand Inquisitor, is appointed by and answers directly to the Regent.
# Pack Priest - Second-in-command of a Sabbat pack, nominally subordinate to the Ductus. They handle all the rituals, ceremonies, and other wacky spiritual shit that Sabbat packs love to indulge in, as well as ensuring that the pack is nice and riled up when they need to be.
# Ductus (Pack Leader) - The head of a local Pack, ranging from "Brutal thug running a street gang" to "Smart NCO in the army" in terms of competence. They generally rule through force (both physical and of personality) and fear, with one who fucks up or pisses their Pack off risking anything from getting dumpstered by their underlings to being staked and left to say hello to the Sun.
# True Sabbat - Basically anyone who's gone through the Sabbat's initiation rites and been declared a made man by a Priest or similar authority. Your rank-and-file "proper" Sabbat, in other words. They can be demoted by order of three Prisci, the Regent, or the Grand Inquisitor, causing them to drop to the following rank.
# False Sabbat - The poor bastards who the Sabbat doesn't consider "real" vampires. Shovelhead cannon fodder, disgraced Sabbat, or fresh recruits all fall into this category. Generally treated like shit by the "True" Sabbat and are not allowed to take part in their rites until they 'prove' themselves.

While the titles are formally recognized, a lot of the titles are self-selected. They have a proper process for Bishop and higher, but any other rank a Sabbat is free to claim and try and defend. Of course, the higher the rank, the more chance the Kindred in question is gonna get shanked. While most Sabbat belong to packs, elder Sabbat are more likely to live and work without packmates. And as the ranks get even higher, the differences between the Sabbat and the Camarilla become less and less.

==Factions==
The Sabbat, being less of a centralized government like the Camarilla and more of a religious movement, has developed various schools of thought that eventually clash with each other, like all religions over time. The Sabbat thus consists of a giant clusterfuck of independent factions who seriously hate each other.

These are the factions that exist within the Sabbat:

1. Loyalists: Totally loyal to the original Anarch revolt, these are basically an old bunch of cranky Anarchs

2. Moderates: Political centrists who don't like the new rules of the Sabbat but still support them.

3. The Status Quo: The Status Quo literally seeks to keep things the way they are forever.

4. The Orthodoxy: Orthodox Sabbat advocate a strengthening of the religious aspects in the higher echelons of the Sabbat, believing that god would punish them if they forget the book of nod along with their damnation.

5. Ultra-Conservatives: Apocalypse conspiracy theorists who believe that Gehenna is always near at all times.

6. Tzimisce Elders: A bunch of fucking old Tzimisce who use the Sabbat as their retirement home.

7. The Pander Movement: Referred to as "total political whores", these bastards will help any faction that supports them or anyone who helps them increase their “legitimacy”.

8. The Order of St. Blaise: A clerical order within the ranks of the Catholic Church that serves as the Sabbat's contact to the Catholic clergy.

In addition to these basic factions, two parallel organizations exist within the Sabbat.

9. The Sabbat Inquisition: Extremely religious vampires within the Sabbat who search for any and all signs of demon worship or [[HERESY]]. This includes Camarilla apologism, espionage, unauthorized Diablerie and basically whatever they feel is against the book of Nod. They insist to have no link to the Second Inquisition, but seeing the profitability of having zealous kine murdering filthy Camarilla dogs, this is highly doubtful.

10. The Black Hand: A strictly militant band of assassins who operate semi-independently from the Sabbat, since they predate the very Sabbat. As such, while the Inquisition is the Sabbat's policing force, the Black Hand are purely well-trained killers for hire. Also, no, there is no obvious connection to the "Black Hand" secret society that managed to kill Franz Ferdinand and kick off World War I, as far as we know anyway.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Sabbatmembers.jpg
Image:sabbatpack.jpg|"A Sabbat Pack" by JuanFiora on Devintart.
Image:Blackhandsabbat.jpg| Members of the Black Hand.
Image:
Image:
Image:
</gallery>

[[Category:World of Darkness]]
[[Category:Vampire: The Masquerade]]

Sabbat (Vampire)

2023-01-28T13:29:28Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:5446:E194:E668:6A04: /* History */

[[File:Sabbat.png|100px|thumb|right|The symbol of the Sabbat. Looks kinda similar to the Camarilla's, huh?]]
The '''Sabbat''', also known as the Sword of Caine, are a very loose, angry group of Kindred who fucking HATE the traditions set by the [[Camarilla]]. They're also batshit crazy, and cause a shitload of ruckus and trouble for other Kindred. Their main goal is to fuck up the Camarilla as much as they can.

==History==
The Sabbat was founded in 1493, mostly as a reaction to the Convention of Thorns, which was the founding of the Camarilla. They made up the members of the Anarch Revolt who were still pretty pissed. The leaders of the endeavor were members of the [[Tzimisce]] and the [[Lasombra]] clans. Both of whom had destroyed their Antediluvian founders and accepted there was no going back. The Tzimisce weren't going to give their lands to the Tremere, who they outright fucking *hated*. The Lasombra had invested way too much into the revolt to just give up their success to a bunch of old assholes. In the words of their representative, ''"I came to negotiate, not to surrender."''
Delegations from both clans met up at an Island near Spain and started making up their own negotiations, along with some still-annoyed [[Anarchs]]. These Anarchs either didn't want to surrender to the Elders, or didn't agree with their Clan's choices. Others joined up to escape the Blood Bond practice, and even a few elders showed up. Namely, the [[Malkavian]] [[Vasantasena]], the [[Tremere]] [[Goratrix,]] and the [[Ventrue]] [[Dominique Touraine]]. These groups basically lived innawoods, doing hit and run tactics on the holdings of the Elders and anyone who had sided with the Camarilla. Mortals named them "Sabbats" due to their crazy behavior, and the way they flaunted how inhuman they were. Slowly, the packs were brought together and eventually the remnants of the Anarch Revolt became the Sabbat. A sect dedicated to warfare against the Camarilla, their Elders and Antediluvian leaders, and everyone else involved.

A bitter war was raged between the newly-made Sabbat and the not too much older Camarilla. [[The Inquisition]] kept fucking up Kindred populations while all of Europe's vampires started to choose sides. The Camarilla started to get a better hold on major cities, and the Sabbat were forced onto the defensive. Despite open protests against it as a tool of the Antediluvians, the Sabbat Elders realized keeping Vampires a secret was maybe not such a terrible idea after all, and tried it out for themselves. Besides Spain, mostly controlled by the Lasombra, and Eastern Europe/Scandinavia, full of Tzimisce, most packs traveled to the new world. And, for a good while, the Sect did great. Due to the Revolution and war happening, it was super easy for them to hide.

==Civil Wars==
The large numbers of Sabbat in the Americas did cause a couple of problems though. Soon a bunch of Camarilla vampires started coming over too, hoping to carve out their own legacies away from the Princes of Europe. Because of a lack of organisation, an internal struggle between the Lamsobra and Tzimisce ensured. Which then resulted in the [[First Sabbat Civil War]]. The war did so much damage to themselves the Cammies were able to take a ton of territory of off them. After 30 years of infighting, a 'Purchase Pact' was made forbidding Sabbat members to attack each other. Of course, War brings out the worst in people, and Kindred too.

Sure enough, yet another wave of in-fighting happened causing the [[Second Sabbat Civil War]]. Grouping together in New York, while the Sabbat ''had'' managed to hold their own just barely, High-Ranking Sabbat started to reconsider some things. Namely if they still agreed with the Sect's actual cause. Not happy to just sign another goodwill agreement, they took a long, hard look at what had happened to the 'Sword Of Caine'. So, they did something completely unheard of before. A congregation of Sabbat got together to make the 'Code Of Milan'. In theory, it was meant to be what the Sabbat actually stood for. It was approved by the new Regent of the Sabbat, Melinda Galbraith, as well as several members of the Black Hand. (The Sabbat's Combat arm.) It also established Mexico City as being the official unofficial capital of the Sabbat.

During times of struggle, the Sabbat had managed to hold onto some of the Major cities even through their internal wars. Some, like Philadelphia remained in Sabbat control 'cause of the sheer number of Black Hand members living there. The Sabbat began to develop along two lines - city Kindred and nomadic Kindred. Most of the nomadic Kindred were packs that fled their cities after being defeated by the Camarilla, or other Sabbat members. The city Kindred maintained permanent havens, and started to seem more and more like the Camarilla. They inserted themselves into the infrastructure of their cities, while the nomadic Kindred traveled the land, never staying in one place for too long.

The [[Third Sabbat Civil War]] was the shortest of the three, only lasting for 100 nights in 1957. It was caused by a failed Coup performed by [[Brujah]] Sabbat members, and lead to a ton of violence yet again. The war was ended due to a peace treaty involving Caitiff and the unified Lamsobra and Tzimisces.

==Modern Nights==
In the modern nights, the Sabbat have taken a metric ass-ton of offensive fronts to the Camarilla, but also suffered from internal disputes. They gained Atlanta and Washington D.C courtesy of some underhanded dickery involving a Sabbat decapitation strike on a Camarilla meeting and a Lasombra impersonating the local Prince, respectively. However, they also lost NYC to equally-underhanded Camarilla dickery involving industrial "accidents" and co-ordinated Blood Hunts, while Archbishop Giangaleazzo of Milan spectacularly defected to the Camarilla by locking all the present Sabbat in a building, giving them an impressive "You all suck!" speech, and setting the whole place on fire.

The Destruction of the Tremere Sabbat and attacks on Mexican Sabbat holdings by unknown parties have also sucked, but there have also been a few good things. They gained some new allies - the [[Salubri]] Sabbat, and the [[Harbingers of Skulls]], who joined the Sabbat to exact vengeance against their enemies. The Black Hand, once a super-stable part of the Sabbat, have fell into some troubles. There's been a lot of in-fighting due to the 'True' Black Hand. And to add icing to the cake, The Regent has been slain, but only the one who did it and is pretending to be her knows that. Waiting for the moment when her charade, (or Masquerade) falls through.

==Culture==
The Sabbat, despite what you might expect, actually have a lot of ways to show they're on the same side. They have their own gang colour (Purple), an official symbol (See image), and tons of gang-signs, code words, passwords, gestures, secret handshakes and more that are *supposed* to help them identify each other. In reality though, very few Sabbat members know all of them, and have to learn to recognize one another by face.
Usually only a Bishop or Archbishop (Think more or less a Sabbat Baron/Prince) can recognize every single Sabbat member in their domain, which of course is a total pain in the ass to do. Even worse so with nomadic packs of 'em. On top of all this, the individual packs of the Sabbat can have their own symbol, gesture, or other way of identifying themselves. Undercover Sabbat packs have even more secret and complicated ones.

Its become common for younger pack members to start wearing crucifixes, or have them tattooed somewhere. They do it because they find it hilarious, the irony of being damned but wearing something symbols of God and Salvation. Older, more mature Lasombra think the pratice is annoying as hell, or sometimes even blasphemous, even if they wear such a cross themselves. Fucking hypocrites. Their argument is that the neonates do not believe in their own damnation, or in God's immortal power over their souls. And they... apparently do? Weird cunts.

A lot of neonates in the Sabbat wonder why they need to be so damn sneaky all the time. The whole point of the Sabbat, after all, is to tear down the Camarilla and Masquerade and rule humans openly. Sabbat elders don't give an answer, given they lived through the Inquisition, and even some Bishops struggle to think up a good response. The typical attitude is that being a 'True Sabbat' is a matter of importance and distinction. You can't just have anyone and everyone waltzing in and claiming all the rights of being a Sabbat member if they haven't proved themselves. And given the pack structure of the Sabbat, many members think of themselves as being in a gang, or warband. Even have their own initiation rites and other ways of making themselves feel more special. D'aww.

The higher up one goes in the Sabbat ranks, the less frequently such symbols are seen, and the attitude of "Us against the world" turns into "ME against the world." In order to survive long enough to even reach that high up, a Kindred needs to be able to live for themselves. Fight hard for every single scrap of profit or any advantage they can get their grubby hands on. Unlike the Camarilla, the ranking isn't as rigid and as such there's no one to promote each other. The only rank and title they have is what they have the power to take. Both the Tzimisce and the Lasombra encourage this dog-eat-dog culture, as its almost like a form of natural selection. In their eyes, this way only the strongest, smartest and most capable sabbat end up leading. The rest are useless canon fodder.

==Ritae==
The Sabbat loves their ideas of loyalty and bonds above all else. To help with this, the sect's created a bunch of rituals, basically team building exercises.

==Organization==
The Sabbat see themselves as the Army Of Caine, and as such try to make themselves as tight-knit-group. The Sabbat is mainly full of kindred from Clans Tzimisce and Lasombra and numerous antitribu from Clans normally independent or associated with the Camarilla. Sabbat can sire childer like normal, and are no less picky than other vampires about it. However, during a War effort, they often perform a mass embrace. These poor bastards are usually knocked over the head, embraced and then buried. By the time the so-called 'Shovelhead' has clawed back up, he's understandably pretty pissed and confused. They're then pointed in the direction of the enemy and sent loose. Most Shovelheads don't survive their first few weeks and are considered to be 'False Sabbat', and are given no respect at all from other members. Once they have proven themselves multiple times, they're taken in, given rites, etc etc. Childer who are specifically chosen to be Embraced don't have to prove themselves, as they were picked rather than mass embraced.

The cornerstone of Sabbat organization is the pack; groups of 3-10 kindred, all mutually bound by blood-sharing rites of the sect. Packs have a warlord leader, known as a ductus, and a chaplin known as a Pack Priest. The latter's job is to remind the pack of their responsibilities to Caine. As mentioned earlier, the Pack is bound a blood-sharing rite. Its called a vinculum, and is like the mortal equivalent of blood brothers. Just a bigger deal and a lower risk of getting HIV. Packs generally occupy communal havens.

==Hierarchy==
Above the pack is a set of hierarchical titles specifically mocking the titles of the Catholic Church. Bishops oversee multiple packs, and overseeing them are Archbishops, who are almost the Sabbat equivalent of a Prince. They make up the Consistory, the governing body that selects the Regent. Advising the Regent, Consistory, and Archbishops, or other leaders are the Prisci. A group that are Elders and other well-respected Sabbat who both advise and act as Judges. The higher ranks of the Sabbat enforce their will through agents commonly called Templars or Paladins, depending on rank.

The hierarchy from Highest to Lowest is as follows:
# Regent - Basically the president of the entire Sabbat. They're selected by the Consistory, which is basically a Roman senate comprised of thirteen Cardinals and a few Prisci.
# Cardinal - Overseers of large areas - Canada, the East Coast, that sort of stuff. They're responsible for conquering cities in Sabbat-claimed territories and act as generals in the Jyhad.
# Priscus (Singular Prisci) - The viziers and advisors to Archbishops and Cardinals. Their rank is technically ceremonial and without 'official' power, but their political and strategic capabilities mean this supposed powerlessness is mostly bollocks. Usually they're Elders, or very close to them in terms of age and power.
# Archbishop - Sabbat Princes. Usually in charge of a city, acting as equal parts warlord and priest to the Sabbat packs. Tend to have quite the hard time keeping the young, angry Sabbat Kindred in line and focused on the wider Jyhad as opposed to just smashing shit.
# Bishop - The Sabbat's 'senior officer' cadre. These guys generally oversee certain aspects of a domain, like ensuring the Masquerade is upheld (for practical reasons), advising the local boss, or otherwise dealing with specific aspects of the Sabbat's agenda.
# Templar/Paladin - Elite bodyguards and hitmen that exclusively serve the Sabbat's upper ranks. Their job basically amounts to being glorified legbreakers for the local Archbishop or Inquisitor when they need a bit of the old ultra-violence to be applied in a specific place. Paladins are basically uber-Templars, being bound to serve a single Cardinal exclusively and gank anyone their boss doesn't like. Notably, they're also both banned from membership in the Black Hand for being team-killing fucktards; while a couple Templars have tried to join, they [[Blam|"mysteriously disappeared"]] on the way to take their initiation trials. The rest of the Sabbat doesn't really like them either, for [[Kharn|obvious reasons]].
## Inquisitors - Exactly what the name implies. They're essentially Templars with a boner for enforcing the Sabbat's views, killing infernalists, and ensuring anyone who preaches [[Heresy|HERESY!]] eats dirt and dies. Their boss, the Grand Inquisitor, is appointed by and answers directly to the Regent.
# Pack Priest - Second-in-command of a Sabbat pack, nominally subordinate to the Ductus. They handle all the rituals, ceremonies, and other wacky spiritual shit that Sabbat packs love to indulge in, as well as ensuring that the pack is nice and riled up when they need to be.
# Ductus (Pack Leader) - The head of a local Pack, ranging from "Brutal thug running a street gang" to "Smart NCO in the army" in terms of competence. They generally rule through force (both physical and of personality) and fear, with one who fucks up or pisses their Pack off risking anything from getting dumpstered by their underlings to being staked and left to say hello to the Sun.
# True Sabbat - Basically anyone who's gone through the Sabbat's initiation rites and been declared a made man by a Priest or similar authority. Your rank-and-file "proper" Sabbat, in other words. They can be demoted by order of three Prisci, the Regent, or the Grand Inquisitor, causing them to drop to the following rank.
# False Sabbat - The poor bastards who the Sabbat doesn't consider "real" vampires. Shovelhead cannon fodder, disgraced Sabbat, or fresh recruits all fall into this category. Generally treated like shit by the "True" Sabbat and are not allowed to take part in their rites until they 'prove' themselves.

While the titles are formally recognized, a lot of the titles are self-selected. They have a proper process for Bishop and higher, but any other rank a Sabbat is free to claim and try and defend. Of course, the higher the rank, the more chance the Kindred in question is gonna get shanked. While most Sabbat belong to packs, elder Sabbat are more likely to live and work without packmates. And as the ranks get even higher, the differences between the Sabbat and the Camarilla become less and less.

==Factions==
The Sabbat, being less of a centralized government like the Camarilla and more of a religious movement, has developed various schools of thought that eventually clash with each other, like all religions over time. The Sabbat thus consists of a giant clusterfuck of independent factions who seriously hate each other.

These are the factions that exist within the Sabbat:

1. Loyalists: Totally loyal to the original Anarch revolt, these are basically an old bunch of cranky Anarchs

2. Moderates: Political centrists who don't like the new rules of the Sabbat but still support them.

3. The Status Quo: The Status Quo literally seeks to keep things the way they are forever.

4. The Orthodoxy: Orthodox Sabbat advocate a strengthening of the religious aspects in the higher echelons of the Sabbat, believing that god would punish them if they forget the book of nod along with their damnation.

5. Ultra-Conservatives: Apocalypse conspiracy theorists who believe that Gehenna is always near at all times.

6. Tzimisce Elders: A bunch of fucking old Tzimisce who use the Sabbat as their retirement home.

7. The Pander Movement: Referred to as "total political whores", these bastards will help any faction that supports them or anyone who helps them increase their “legitimacy”.

8. The Order of St. Blaise: A clerical order within the ranks of the Catholic Church that serves as the Sabbat's contact to the Catholic clergy.

In addition to these basic factions, two parallel organizations exist within the Sabbat.

9. The Sabbat Inquisition: Extremely religious vampires within the Sabbat who search for any and all signs of demon worship or [[HERESY]]. This includes Camarilla apologism, espionage, unauthorized Diablerie and basically whatever they feel is against the book of Nod. They insist to have no link to the Second Inquisition, but seeing the profitability of having zealous kine murdering filthy Camarilla dogs, this is highly doubtful.

10. The Black Hand: A strictly militant band of assassins who operate semi-independently from the Sabbat, since they predate the very Sabbat. As such, while the Inquisition is the Sabbat's policing force, the Black Hand are purely well-trained killers for hire. Also, no, there is no obvious connection to the "Black Hand" secret society that managed to kill Franz Ferdinand and kick off World War I, as far as we know anyway.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Sabbatmembers.jpg
Image:sabbatpack.jpg|"A Sabbat Pack" by JuanFiora on Devintart.
Image:Blackhandsabbat.jpg| Members of the Black Hand.
Image:
Image:
Image:
</gallery>

[[Category:World of Darkness]]
[[Category:Vampire: The Masquerade]]

Sabbat (Vampire)

2023-01-28T13:25:38Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:5446:E194:E668:6A04: /* History */

[[File:Sabbat.png|100px|thumb|right|The symbol of the Sabbat. Looks kinda similar to the Camarilla's, huh?]]
The '''Sabbat''', also known as the Sword of Caine, are a very loose, angry group of Kindred who fucking HATE the traditions set by the [[Camarilla]]. They're also batshit crazy, and cause a shitload of ruckus and trouble for other Kindred. Their main goal is to fuck up the Camarilla as much as they can.

==History==
The Sabbat was founded in 1493, mostly as a reaction to the Convention of Thorns, which was the founding of the Camarilla. They made up the members of the Anarch Revolt who were still pretty pissed. The leaders of the endeavor were members of the [[Tzimisce]] and the [[Lasombra]] clans. Both of whom had destroyed their Antediluvian founders and accepted there was no going back. The Tzimisce weren't going to give their lands to the Tremere, who they outright fucking *hated*. The Lasombra had invested way too much into the revolt to just give up their success to a bunch of old assholes. In the words of their representative, ''"I came to negotiate, not to surrender."''
Delegations from both clans met up at an Island near Spain and started making up their own negotiations, along with some still-annoyed [[Anarchs]]. These Anarchs either didn't want to surrender to the Elders, or didn't agree with their Clan's choices. Others joined up to escape the Blood Bond practice, and even a few elders showed up. Namely, the [[Malkavian]] [[Vasantasena]], the [[Tremere]] [[Goratrix,]] and the [[Ventrue]] [[Dominique Touraine]]. These groups basically lived innawoods, doing hit and run tactics on the holdings of the Elders and anyone who had sided with the Camarilla. Mortals named them "Sabbats" due to their crazy behavior, and the way they flaunted how inhuman they were. Slowly, the packs were brought together and eventually the remnants of the Anarch Revolt became the Sabbat. A sect dedicated to warfare against the Camarilla, their Elders and Antediluvian leaders, and everyone else involved.

A bitter war was raged between the newly-made Sabbat and the not too much older Camarilla. [[The Inquisition]] kept fucking up Kindred populations while all of Europe's vampires started to choose sides. The Camarilla started to get a better hold on major cities, and the Sabbat were forced onto the defensive. Despite open protests against it as a tool of the Antediluvians, the Sabbat Elders realized keeping Vampires a secret was maybe not such a terrible idea after all, and tried it out for themselves. Besides Spain, mostly controlled by the Lamsobra, and Eastern Europe/Scandinavia, full of Tzimisce, most packs traveled to the new world. And, for a good while, the Sect did great. Due to the Revolution and war happening, it was super easy for them to hide.

==Civil Wars==
The large numbers of Sabbat in the Americas did cause a couple of problems though. Soon a bunch of Camarilla vampires started coming over too, hoping to carve out their own legacies away from the Princes of Europe. Because of a lack of organisation, an internal struggle between the Lamsobra and Tzimisce ensured. Which then resulted in the [[First Sabbat Civil War]]. The war did so much damage to themselves the Cammies were able to take a ton of territory of off them. After 30 years of infighting, a 'Purchase Pact' was made forbidding Sabbat members to attack each other. Of course, War brings out the worst in people, and Kindred too.

Sure enough, yet another wave of in-fighting happened causing the [[Second Sabbat Civil War]]. Grouping together in New York, while the Sabbat ''had'' managed to hold their own just barely, High-Ranking Sabbat started to reconsider some things. Namely if they still agreed with the Sect's actual cause. Not happy to just sign another goodwill agreement, they took a long, hard look at what had happened to the 'Sword Of Caine'. So, they did something completely unheard of before. A congregation of Sabbat got together to make the 'Code Of Milan'. In theory, it was meant to be what the Sabbat actually stood for. It was approved by the new Regent of the Sabbat, Melinda Galbraith, as well as several members of the Black Hand. (The Sabbat's Combat arm.) It also established Mexico City as being the official unofficial capital of the Sabbat.

During times of struggle, the Sabbat had managed to hold onto some of the Major cities even through their internal wars. Some, like Philadelphia remained in Sabbat control 'cause of the sheer number of Black Hand members living there. The Sabbat began to develop along two lines - city Kindred and nomadic Kindred. Most of the nomadic Kindred were packs that fled their cities after being defeated by the Camarilla, or other Sabbat members. The city Kindred maintained permanent havens, and started to seem more and more like the Camarilla. They inserted themselves into the infrastructure of their cities, while the nomadic Kindred traveled the land, never staying in one place for too long.

The [[Third Sabbat Civil War]] was the shortest of the three, only lasting for 100 nights in 1957. It was caused by a failed Coup performed by [[Brujah]] Sabbat members, and lead to a ton of violence yet again. The war was ended due to a peace treaty involving Caitiff and the unified Lamsobra and Tzimisces.

==Modern Nights==
In the modern nights, the Sabbat have taken a metric ass-ton of offensive fronts to the Camarilla, but also suffered from internal disputes. They gained Atlanta and Washington D.C courtesy of some underhanded dickery involving a Sabbat decapitation strike on a Camarilla meeting and a Lasombra impersonating the local Prince, respectively. However, they also lost NYC to equally-underhanded Camarilla dickery involving industrial "accidents" and co-ordinated Blood Hunts, while Archbishop Giangaleazzo of Milan spectacularly defected to the Camarilla by locking all the present Sabbat in a building, giving them an impressive "You all suck!" speech, and setting the whole place on fire.

The Destruction of the Tremere Sabbat and attacks on Mexican Sabbat holdings by unknown parties have also sucked, but there have also been a few good things. They gained some new allies - the [[Salubri]] Sabbat, and the [[Harbingers of Skulls]], who joined the Sabbat to exact vengeance against their enemies. The Black Hand, once a super-stable part of the Sabbat, have fell into some troubles. There's been a lot of in-fighting due to the 'True' Black Hand. And to add icing to the cake, The Regent has been slain, but only the one who did it and is pretending to be her knows that. Waiting for the moment when her charade, (or Masquerade) falls through.

==Culture==
The Sabbat, despite what you might expect, actually have a lot of ways to show they're on the same side. They have their own gang colour (Purple), an official symbol (See image), and tons of gang-signs, code words, passwords, gestures, secret handshakes and more that are *supposed* to help them identify each other. In reality though, very few Sabbat members know all of them, and have to learn to recognize one another by face.
Usually only a Bishop or Archbishop (Think more or less a Sabbat Baron/Prince) can recognize every single Sabbat member in their domain, which of course is a total pain in the ass to do. Even worse so with nomadic packs of 'em. On top of all this, the individual packs of the Sabbat can have their own symbol, gesture, or other way of identifying themselves. Undercover Sabbat packs have even more secret and complicated ones.

Its become common for younger pack members to start wearing crucifixes, or have them tattooed somewhere. They do it because they find it hilarious, the irony of being damned but wearing something symbols of God and Salvation. Older, more mature Lasombra think the pratice is annoying as hell, or sometimes even blasphemous, even if they wear such a cross themselves. Fucking hypocrites. Their argument is that the neonates do not believe in their own damnation, or in God's immortal power over their souls. And they... apparently do? Weird cunts.

A lot of neonates in the Sabbat wonder why they need to be so damn sneaky all the time. The whole point of the Sabbat, after all, is to tear down the Camarilla and Masquerade and rule humans openly. Sabbat elders don't give an answer, given they lived through the Inquisition, and even some Bishops struggle to think up a good response. The typical attitude is that being a 'True Sabbat' is a matter of importance and distinction. You can't just have anyone and everyone waltzing in and claiming all the rights of being a Sabbat member if they haven't proved themselves. And given the pack structure of the Sabbat, many members think of themselves as being in a gang, or warband. Even have their own initiation rites and other ways of making themselves feel more special. D'aww.

The higher up one goes in the Sabbat ranks, the less frequently such symbols are seen, and the attitude of "Us against the world" turns into "ME against the world." In order to survive long enough to even reach that high up, a Kindred needs to be able to live for themselves. Fight hard for every single scrap of profit or any advantage they can get their grubby hands on. Unlike the Camarilla, the ranking isn't as rigid and as such there's no one to promote each other. The only rank and title they have is what they have the power to take. Both the Tzimisce and the Lasombra encourage this dog-eat-dog culture, as its almost like a form of natural selection. In their eyes, this way only the strongest, smartest and most capable sabbat end up leading. The rest are useless canon fodder.

==Ritae==
The Sabbat loves their ideas of loyalty and bonds above all else. To help with this, the sect's created a bunch of rituals, basically team building exercises.

==Organization==
The Sabbat see themselves as the Army Of Caine, and as such try to make themselves as tight-knit-group. The Sabbat is mainly full of kindred from Clans Tzimisce and Lasombra and numerous antitribu from Clans normally independent or associated with the Camarilla. Sabbat can sire childer like normal, and are no less picky than other vampires about it. However, during a War effort, they often perform a mass embrace. These poor bastards are usually knocked over the head, embraced and then buried. By the time the so-called 'Shovelhead' has clawed back up, he's understandably pretty pissed and confused. They're then pointed in the direction of the enemy and sent loose. Most Shovelheads don't survive their first few weeks and are considered to be 'False Sabbat', and are given no respect at all from other members. Once they have proven themselves multiple times, they're taken in, given rites, etc etc. Childer who are specifically chosen to be Embraced don't have to prove themselves, as they were picked rather than mass embraced.

The cornerstone of Sabbat organization is the pack; groups of 3-10 kindred, all mutually bound by blood-sharing rites of the sect. Packs have a warlord leader, known as a ductus, and a chaplin known as a Pack Priest. The latter's job is to remind the pack of their responsibilities to Caine. As mentioned earlier, the Pack is bound a blood-sharing rite. Its called a vinculum, and is like the mortal equivalent of blood brothers. Just a bigger deal and a lower risk of getting HIV. Packs generally occupy communal havens.

==Hierarchy==
Above the pack is a set of hierarchical titles specifically mocking the titles of the Catholic Church. Bishops oversee multiple packs, and overseeing them are Archbishops, who are almost the Sabbat equivalent of a Prince. They make up the Consistory, the governing body that selects the Regent. Advising the Regent, Consistory, and Archbishops, or other leaders are the Prisci. A group that are Elders and other well-respected Sabbat who both advise and act as Judges. The higher ranks of the Sabbat enforce their will through agents commonly called Templars or Paladins, depending on rank.

The hierarchy from Highest to Lowest is as follows:
# Regent - Basically the president of the entire Sabbat. They're selected by the Consistory, which is basically a Roman senate comprised of thirteen Cardinals and a few Prisci.
# Cardinal - Overseers of large areas - Canada, the East Coast, that sort of stuff. They're responsible for conquering cities in Sabbat-claimed territories and act as generals in the Jyhad.
# Priscus (Singular Prisci) - The viziers and advisors to Archbishops and Cardinals. Their rank is technically ceremonial and without 'official' power, but their political and strategic capabilities mean this supposed powerlessness is mostly bollocks. Usually they're Elders, or very close to them in terms of age and power.
# Archbishop - Sabbat Princes. Usually in charge of a city, acting as equal parts warlord and priest to the Sabbat packs. Tend to have quite the hard time keeping the young, angry Sabbat Kindred in line and focused on the wider Jyhad as opposed to just smashing shit.
# Bishop - The Sabbat's 'senior officer' cadre. These guys generally oversee certain aspects of a domain, like ensuring the Masquerade is upheld (for practical reasons), advising the local boss, or otherwise dealing with specific aspects of the Sabbat's agenda.
# Templar/Paladin - Elite bodyguards and hitmen that exclusively serve the Sabbat's upper ranks. Their job basically amounts to being glorified legbreakers for the local Archbishop or Inquisitor when they need a bit of the old ultra-violence to be applied in a specific place. Paladins are basically uber-Templars, being bound to serve a single Cardinal exclusively and gank anyone their boss doesn't like. Notably, they're also both banned from membership in the Black Hand for being team-killing fucktards; while a couple Templars have tried to join, they [[Blam|"mysteriously disappeared"]] on the way to take their initiation trials. The rest of the Sabbat doesn't really like them either, for [[Kharn|obvious reasons]].
## Inquisitors - Exactly what the name implies. They're essentially Templars with a boner for enforcing the Sabbat's views, killing infernalists, and ensuring anyone who preaches [[Heresy|HERESY!]] eats dirt and dies. Their boss, the Grand Inquisitor, is appointed by and answers directly to the Regent.
# Pack Priest - Second-in-command of a Sabbat pack, nominally subordinate to the Ductus. They handle all the rituals, ceremonies, and other wacky spiritual shit that Sabbat packs love to indulge in, as well as ensuring that the pack is nice and riled up when they need to be.
# Ductus (Pack Leader) - The head of a local Pack, ranging from "Brutal thug running a street gang" to "Smart NCO in the army" in terms of competence. They generally rule through force (both physical and of personality) and fear, with one who fucks up or pisses their Pack off risking anything from getting dumpstered by their underlings to being staked and left to say hello to the Sun.
# True Sabbat - Basically anyone who's gone through the Sabbat's initiation rites and been declared a made man by a Priest or similar authority. Your rank-and-file "proper" Sabbat, in other words. They can be demoted by order of three Prisci, the Regent, or the Grand Inquisitor, causing them to drop to the following rank.
# False Sabbat - The poor bastards who the Sabbat doesn't consider "real" vampires. Shovelhead cannon fodder, disgraced Sabbat, or fresh recruits all fall into this category. Generally treated like shit by the "True" Sabbat and are not allowed to take part in their rites until they 'prove' themselves.

While the titles are formally recognized, a lot of the titles are self-selected. They have a proper process for Bishop and higher, but any other rank a Sabbat is free to claim and try and defend. Of course, the higher the rank, the more chance the Kindred in question is gonna get shanked. While most Sabbat belong to packs, elder Sabbat are more likely to live and work without packmates. And as the ranks get even higher, the differences between the Sabbat and the Camarilla become less and less.

==Factions==
The Sabbat, being less of a centralized government like the Camarilla and more of a religious movement, has developed various schools of thought that eventually clash with each other, like all religions over time. The Sabbat thus consists of a giant clusterfuck of independent factions who seriously hate each other.

These are the factions that exist within the Sabbat:

1. Loyalists: Totally loyal to the original Anarch revolt, these are basically an old bunch of cranky Anarchs

2. Moderates: Political centrists who don't like the new rules of the Sabbat but still support them.

3. The Status Quo: The Status Quo literally seeks to keep things the way they are forever.

4. The Orthodoxy: Orthodox Sabbat advocate a strengthening of the religious aspects in the higher echelons of the Sabbat, believing that god would punish them if they forget the book of nod along with their damnation.

5. Ultra-Conservatives: Apocalypse conspiracy theorists who believe that Gehenna is always near at all times.

6. Tzimisce Elders: A bunch of fucking old Tzimisce who use the Sabbat as their retirement home.

7. The Pander Movement: Referred to as "total political whores", these bastards will help any faction that supports them or anyone who helps them increase their “legitimacy”.

8. The Order of St. Blaise: A clerical order within the ranks of the Catholic Church that serves as the Sabbat's contact to the Catholic clergy.

In addition to these basic factions, two parallel organizations exist within the Sabbat.

9. The Sabbat Inquisition: Extremely religious vampires within the Sabbat who search for any and all signs of demon worship or [[HERESY]]. This includes Camarilla apologism, espionage, unauthorized Diablerie and basically whatever they feel is against the book of Nod. They insist to have no link to the Second Inquisition, but seeing the profitability of having zealous kine murdering filthy Camarilla dogs, this is highly doubtful.

10. The Black Hand: A strictly militant band of assassins who operate semi-independently from the Sabbat, since they predate the very Sabbat. As such, while the Inquisition is the Sabbat's policing force, the Black Hand are purely well-trained killers for hire. Also, no, there is no obvious connection to the "Black Hand" secret society that managed to kill Franz Ferdinand and kick off World War I, as far as we know anyway.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Sabbatmembers.jpg
Image:sabbatpack.jpg|"A Sabbat Pack" by JuanFiora on Devintart.
Image:Blackhandsabbat.jpg| Members of the Black Hand.
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</gallery>

[[Category:World of Darkness]]
[[Category:Vampire: The Masquerade]]