Editing Vampire: The Masquerade (section)

====The Code of Milan====
Because the Sabbat is filled to the brim with assholes, edgelords, and other creepy fucks, early Sabbat leadership realized that they'd need a code to keep the whole bunch of them fuckers in line. As such, the Code of Milan was penned and ratified to get at least some sense of coherency without betraying the founding principles of the Sabbat. The statutes are:

*'''I: The Sabbat shall remain united in its support of the Sect’s Regent. If necessary, a new Regent shall be elected. The Regent shall support relief from tyranny, granting all Sabbat freedom.'''
:Simple enough: the Regent is the boss. It's the Regent's job to make sure the Sabbat has the freedom upon which it was founded, and if needed a new one can be elected. Note that the wording is vague enough to imply that the Regent may be overthrown in case the Regent is an ass.

*'''II: All Sabbat shall do their best to serve their leaders as long as said leaders serve the will of the Regent.'''
:Listen to the folks who tell you what the Regent wants you to do. This is in theory free of the tyranny of elders because again there's the implication of said leaders being able to be overthrown.

*'''III: All Sabbat shall faithfully observe all the auctoritas ritae.'''
:The Auctorias Ritae are the religious rites that form the basis that bind the Sabbat together. All thirteen of the rites (The Binding, The Blood Feast, The Blood Bath, the Creation Rites, the Festivo Dello Estinto, the Fire Dance, Games of Instinct, Monomacy, Palla Grande, the Sermons of Caine, Vaulderie, the War Party and the Wild Hunt) are observed by proper Sabbat and foregoing their use will get you into trouble.

*'''IV: All Sabbat shall keep their word of honor to one another.'''
:If you give your word, you've given your word. With so many assholes in one place you'll need a way to keep them in check. The Tzimisce are especially big on this.

*'''V: All Sabbat shall treat their peers fairly and equally, upholding the strength and unity of the Sabbat. If necessary, they shall provide for the needs of their brethren.'''
:Help your peers for the good of the Sabbat. Within reason of course: if a particularly dickish pack tries to exploit this they'll find that there are limits to this hospitality.

*'''VI: All Sabbat must put the good of the Sect and the race of Cainites before their own personal needs, despite all costs.'''
:Speaks for itself, but the threat's gotta be pretty big to get the entire Sabbat on the same side. Otherwise certain Kindred will be too busy being dicks.

*'''VII: Those who are not honorable under this code will be considered less than equal and therefore unworthy of assistance.'''
:Don't be a dick or your ass is grass.

*'''VIII: As it has always been, so shall it always be. The Lextalionis shall be the model for undying justice by which all Sabbat shall abide.'''
:Be an especially big asshole and you'll have a Wild Hunt (the Sabbat name for the Camarilla Blood Hunt) called on your ass.

*'''IX: All Sabbat shall protect one another from the enemies of the Sect. Personal enemies shall remain a personal responsibility, unless they undermine Sect security.'''
:Civil wars are bad, so if two Sabbat have beef it's their problem. This does mean that if you manage to stretch the meaning of "Sect security" you can make this rule work in your favor with some planted evidence calling for Monomachy.

*'''X: All Sect members shall protect Sabbat territory from all other powers.'''
:There's plenty of Camarilla and Anarchs who'd love to set up shop in Sabbat cities and they frequently try to do so. Few Sabbat need the encouragement to kicks a bunch of Camarilla/Anarchs in the dick, so this is pretty easy to enforce.

*'''XI: The spirit of freedom shall be the fundamental principle of the Sect. All Sabbat shall expect and demand freedom from their leaders.'''
:The counterpart of statutes I and II: leaders have to give freedom while the common Sabbat demand it.

*'''XII: The Ritus of Monomacy shall be used to settle disputes among all Sabbat.'''
:Monomacy is the sacred duel between two Sabbat, but a disturbing amount of them will want to use it just to kill folks without repercussions.

*'''XIII: All Sabbat shall support the Black Hand.'''
:The Black Hand, also known as the ''manus nigrum'' have made it their job to hunt down infernalists and demons to destroy both, which is considered laudable by the Sabbat. ''Tal'mahe'Ra'' or True Black Hand is a completely different animal, even having Mage and other supernaturals aiding it. They are the ones who work for Caine and Antediluvians, with no one in the Sabbat having an idea.

On December 21st, 1933 the Code of Milan was revised after the end of the Second Sabbat Civil War. This revision added three addenda to the Code, which are to be upheld in the same way as the original 13 are:

*'''XIV: All Sabbat have the right to monitor the behavior and activities of their fellow Sect members in order to maintain freedom and security.'''
:Aka "you can spy on everyone as long as it's for the good of the Sect." Yes, it's [[Paranoia|written vaguely]] for exactly that purpose.

*'''XV: All Sabbat possess the right to call a council of their peers and immediate leaders.'''
:Sometimes it's better to talk than to fight, which became obvious during the civil war. This gives all Sabbat to call such councils to defuse otherwise violent situations, but at the risk of having to deal with violent reprisals if the council was deemed to be bullshit. This wisdom did pay off, with the Third Sabbat Civil War lasting only 100 days and ended with diplomacy.

*'''XVI: All Sabbat shall act against Sect members who use the powers and authority the Sabbat has given them for personal gain at the expense of the Sabbat. Action shall be taken only through accepted means, approved by a quorum of Prisci.'''
:A counterweight to statutes VI and IX: if leaders do start like the hated elders the rabble now has the right to take them down... with approval of course.

[[File:Anarch.png|200px|thumb|right|The symbol of the Anarchs.]]