Editing Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition (section)

==Sects==

Still the same sects (ish) but with differences with ann the radical changes in V5.

===[[Camarilla]]===
The Camarilla, long the bastion of kindred society and considering all vampires under their rules, got fucked from several angles at the beginning of V5. The Gangrel had already left after Justicar Xavier wasnt taken seriously about the Antedeluvians. Then the beckoning starts to take their Elders and Princes away, leading to a lot of the old powerbase departing for parts unknown and creating a power vacuum. In addition, when ShreckNET got compromised and the Second inquisition rose up, the camarilla promptly panicked, blamed the Anarchs and banned all electronic communication. Never mind that a lot of Elders used law enforcement or even honest to caine hunters as an attack dog to sic on their rivals, contributing to a lot of the information that the SI had to work with.

Following this, the Camarilla decided to place stricter rules and membership becomes more exclusive, formally banning caitiff vampires in the sect and cracking down harder and harder on the anarchs before Theo Bell, Archon, anarch sympathizer and brujah representative, declared enough was enough and blew Hardestadt, inner circle member and the defacto leader of the camarilla, to pieces with a shotgun at the Conclave of Prague, taking the Brujah and moving most of the clan to the Anarchs.

Despite their powerbase shrinking and the Camarilla becoming more of an exclusive club, several clans petitioned to join in the wake of all the chaos that followed the Gehenna war. The Banu Haqim were granted the ability to join as a clan, and about half the Lasombra defected from the Sabbat and were allowed in on a case by case basis, often trading favours in exchange for entrance. This began in Chicago and will likely continue to be adopted in other areas, assuming the Lasombra don't fuck the place over. The Ministry, formerly known as the Followers of Set, were rejected from joining, so decided to join the sect more likely to appreciate [[futurama RPG|blackjack and hookers]].

Between this and the death of the end of the party line that the Antedeluvians are simply myths, the Camarilla of the present is a very different beast, and are arguably regressing to the tactics of the Elders that spawned the first anarch revolt, locking their doors and allowing the Anarchs to bear the brunt of the SI purges while they try to avoid detection and wait out the storm.

===[[Anarchs]]===
Following the Camarilla closing its doors to all but exceptional kindred and the response from Theo Bell, the Anarchs have split off into their own sect proper. The average Anarch city is a mess of gang violence without anyone holding enough power to make Anarchs behave and usually either follows the trend of "the barons are just as bad as the princes" or Sabbat wearing anarchy symbols (which makes them rather vague) as the kindred form into gangs and fight nightly for territory, usually both.

Not to say that going Anarch has no benefits. Sure life is tougher and fighting is rampant but night to night you have a little more freedom. The barons generally are slightly better than the Princes of old, and likely wont demand your fealty or gifts of blood so long as you stay out of their way, plus with a slightly more democratic leaning being a complete bastard is discouraged. However, with no obligation to be fair and even less in the way of oversight if you're not popular, you're at the mercy of other vampires and can expect little in the way of actual support or recourse.

Unteathered from the Camarilla, they've come into their own, for better of worse. Thin bloods and Caitiff have, being generally persceuted by the Camarilla, flocked to the Anarchs in the face of the Camarilla becoming even more hostile to them. The Gangrel, originally simply independant, have joined up with the Anarchs too, as did the Ministry and Brujah clans. Heck, even a load of younger Tzimisce have latched onto the sect. They also made some territory gains of their own (retaking California and usurping London and a few other cities).

V5 seems to be intent on building the Anarchs into the proper rivals to the Camarilla in the face of moving the Sabbat out of the limelight and in fairness, a lot of people are okay with it. Many considered the Sabbat to be comically evil and with the depth of a puddle(then again the Anarchs arnt exactly chomsky with fangs). It helps that the unique clans most people wanted to play are no longer consigned to a sect that considers skinning people for the lulz to be a sacred practice. However, there are obviously people who believe that the sect is boring, underwritten  and its horseshit that the entireity of vampiric society rapidly changed over the course of a decade when it had stayed mostly stable for so long.

===[[The Sabbat]]===
In the wake of the Beckoning bringing elders all to one place, the Sabbat abandoned their cities and prepared to kick the shit out of the elders, seeing it as a massive buffet. Details on what the Gehenna war looks like are sketchy, but from snippets here and there, its not going well, and attrition rates among the Sabbat are high. Not that majority of them care, but in the wake of this, about half the Lasombra promptly left to join the Camarilla, presumably now fightened of actually doing the thing that their entire sect was born to do.

Presumably there are pockets of Sabbat here and there, the ones who didn't answer the call to war, but the books have completely shifted attention from them. Presumably because being a vampiric shitbag, using disciplines in the open and creating a trail of bodies can and will lead the SI to you, and no matter how badass you are, getting your haven burned down in the middle of the day will probably kill you, or at least ruin your day.

Luckily, running Sabbat isn't too difficult. With the touchstones and tenets system you can spoof most paths, Sabbat ritae have been homebrewed and it isnt too hard to create a plot where they are hanging around (or even run a gehenna war game). You could even do a pre beckoning game if you wish.