Qadir’s loyalty to the sect is the sole reason why he took on the role of Sheriff at the behest of Calebros, the leader of the local Camarilla during the Battle of New York. He hoped for another to take over his post after a new Prince was established, but Panhard decided to keep him – and his sense of honour made him remain, though he feels his humanity slowly dissipating every night. He believes himself on the path to damnation, and has taken a defeatist view of his prospects. Although there is a more altruistic part of him that shines through occasionally, his increasing cruelty foretells his destination… or does it?
Hellene Panhard is the childe of Michaela, the previous Camarilla Prince of New York City, who met her final death at the hands of the Sabbat. Out of all the potential candidates, it is she who managed to secure her claim to Princedom after the Ivory Tower spread and secured their domain. Her previous status as a court mainstay allowed her to pull many strings and call in many favours, but it was one secretive ally who tipped the scales in her favour…
A soft hello and a silent goodbye, the shadow drifts through moonlight like they’re made for it. Liquid metal in the battlefield and packed earth in a conversation, catching smoke would be easier than earning a smile. If they didn’t carry the weight of life like a shroud, they might make for the perfect assassin — but they do; lives lost, lives taken, lives held in their hands. The shepherd looks after their sheep, and the shadow looks after their prey. Do you love them or own them? Waiting in the dark, will you protect them or consume them, body and soul? Connection is the one thing that will kill you, and the one thing worth living for.
TURNED › tel aviv — 1977
what you can’t bury, give away;
what you can’t give away, you must carry with you —
it’s always heavier than you thought
CONNECTIONS ›
DIZZY 「friends」
› A pest. When Harel says it, their voice is softer than usual.
ANGEL 「allies」
› Harel has known sorcerers in their time, this one is just as hard to pin down as the rest.
DIVYA 「associates」
› Divya is prey thinking itself a predator. Hard to bear.
DIVYA PATIL › CAMARILLA VENTRUE
cis woman & she + her ∕ ∕ dominate ∙ presence ∙ auspex
Forget dividing a planet to bite-sized chunks, the world-eater swallows it whole. Unhinged jaw and distended belly in polished heels and a tailored suit; stand in awe of the perfect reflection, avert your eyes from the bloodied teeth — bow down before the god made flesh, and offer everything you have to your new false idol. With the furious wails of a child king and the tight-clenched fists of a toddler; get in good while the creature’s young, and you might have a spot in their court. World-eater, sun-slayer, leave someone to make you a crown. A king of rubble is a king of nothing, and you’re nobody without somebody to boss around.
TURNED › new york — 2015
if there is a light then i’m going to swallow it;
if there’s a god then i’m going to make him cry
CONNECTIONS ›
DIZZY 「frustration」
› Dizzy enters the room, Divya starts sniping. It’s how they work.
HAREL 「grudging respect」
› All are beneath Divya... But Harel isn’t worth crossing.
ANGEL 「friends」
› The only reasonable one in the coterie.
ZAKI 「ugh」
› Can this thing really be considered Kindred?
ANGEL MALDONADO › CAMARILLA TREMERE
cis man & he + him ∕ ∕ thaumaturgy ∙ auspex ∙ dominate
A knife in the gut and a smile on the lips, the sorcerer is in control of every situation; untouched by the blood dripping from their fingertips. While others scrabble for power or knowledge, they have everything they need without trying; secrets land on their shoulders like songbirds, and life whispers in their ear: it’s all about control. It is. The streetlights draw their chalk outline on the pavement, and the sorcerer’s mask cracks where no one else can see it. Desperation edges in; puddles of rain look like blood in the darkness, so where’s the line between heresy and genius? What’s the price of turning the world to suit your needs?
TURNED › seattle — 1994
i touch the world not as myself,
but as an echo of who i was;
can you hear me yet? can you read me?
CONNECTIONS ›
DIZZY 「tension」
› They both know that the other knows more than they’re saying. Neither likes it.
HAREL 「trepidation」
› Harel is a ticking time bomb, but maybe if Angel can get on their good side…
DIVYA 「amusement」
› When Angel speaks, Divya listens. Only Angel knows why.
JAZIRI 「friends」
› Angel will trade secrets for time in Jaziri’s company. They’re a calming presence.
LAURA 'DIZZY' WAGNER › CAMARILLA TOREADOR
trans woman & she + her ∕ ∕ auspex ∙ celerity ∙ obfuscate
With no breath to hold in reverie, the room is silent. Lamps behind windows simulate sunlight, and bare ceramic arms simulate love. The artist is alone as she ever was; Pygmalion watched by a hundred false eyes, passing a soul into her newest vessel; creation as emotion made physical. Outside of the room exists someone else, flitting about and throwing herself at every iron bar, every mirror, every impassive face — all one and the same. Alone in a crowd, surrounded by creatures who’ve forgotten to live, and seeing herself in every gaze; Narcissus removed from the pond found eyes instead, and under scrutiny the artist is her own masterpiece.
TURNED › chicago — 1949
i know history; there are many names in history,
but none of them are ours
CONNECTIONS ›
HAREL 「friends」
› No one who puts up with so much from Dizzy can possibly be as scary as they say.
ANGEL 「circling」
› Two masks trying to read each other.
DIVYA 「teasing」
› Everyone else has to deal with the fallout when Dizzy inevitably winds them up.
PEACH 「siblings」
› Avoiding the tension of a shared sire and a betrayal, Dizzy leaves any room Peach is in.
We are a monolithic and ruthless cabal, expanding and maintaining our sphere of influence with hidden hands. We infiltrate rather than invade, subvert before we debate, intimidate without asking our lessers their opinions. Our power flies on incubus wings by night instead of marching with armies by day. Nothing can stand in our way, as none can stand athwart a shadow.
Every nightmare dreamed up by paranoids, every righteous fear of the persecuted, every conspiracy postulated by law and hinted at in lore: the Camarilla reaches farther and does worse. It controls lives, money, and history. They told your ancestors what to believe, they tell the media what to report. If the Camarilla want a secret kept from the kine, they bury the story... and the storyteller.
Master conspirators and manipulators do not pull together in the same harness like tame oxen. The Kindred within the Camarilla us tools of manipulation and deceit on each other just as they do on the kine and on other sects. But they agree on one truth: We are stronger inside the Camarilla than anyone outside of it.
Why do we exist? Above mere survival and mutual protection, what justifies our improbably and selfishly prolonged unlives? The answer is something bigger than ourselves: the Camarilla.
Some see our sect as merely the system that protects us from becoming fire and ashes on the streets. But the truh is that everything that lives (or makes a decent imitation) needs a dream. Everything that thinks needs a purpose. Are the Kindred not the best evidence of this? When creatures that merely go through the motions of survival encounter those of us who carry in our veins the dreams of our ancestors, who wins? We do. Dream and purpose drive us, or they should. Without them, we may as well embrace the Beast and cease our pretence of control.
And that, in a nutshell, is the Camarilla’s mission: control. By directing the most powerful and effective Kindred with a single will — that of the Inner Circle — we amplify their power and effect. By extending our reach into mortal governments, corporations, crime syndicates, churches, and everything else that tries in their own feeble way to corral humanity, we extend our control to the four corners of the earth. From penthouses to nuclear blast shelters dug out under mountains, we are influencing and guiding humanity, using our extraordinary talents to improve our common world.
about the anarch movement
Some time around 2006 the Second Inquisition started targeting our own. How did this happen? Who gave them the information that lead them to Vienna? Clearly the Anarchs. It was then that the Justicars decided it was too late to turn back. They subtly added Anarch groups and domains to the kill-lists. It was a cold move, but they had it coming.
As the Anarchs grew wise to the plot, they began to voice their dissatisfaction. They did this by lopping the heads off of several notable Princes and mailing them to the Justicars. Alas, poor Voorhies of Amsterdam. I was with Justicar Carfax when we received his skull.
One might look at the series of events and say the Camarilla betrayed the Anarchs, but they had gone too far. They weren’t content to attack us directly, they attacked the Masquerade itself, causing prominent – and I mean prominent, just look up the footage – breaches in Glasgow, Marrakech, Dallas, and New York, and bringing the Second Inquisition to our door. And this is their fate now. Finally left on their own to deal with the monsters they have awoken. Soon enough they will come back to us, whining for aid, but we shall refuse them. As the torch lights move in on them, we will look on from the shadows many and strong, but motionless. We, who respect and protect it, deserve this gift of immortality, they do not.
HOW TO TALK ABOUT ANARCHS
Anarchs are incompetent, and this incompetence characterises everything they do. Contrast Anarch youth with Camarilla experience. Even when they are not violent, the Anarchs are sloppy, fail to think things through, and take risks without considering the consequences.
Anarchs tear down. They never build. Anarchs are famous for destruction, rioting, and murder, but when it comes to establishing any kind of order of their own, they fail. This is why the Anarch Free States in California has never managed to establish a clear set of laws or a system of government.
Anarchs don’t know what they want. Many Anarchs talk about change, but they have no coherent vision or clear demands. This makes it impossible to negotiate with them, as their ideology is too incoherent to produce a negotiating position. This is made worse by their perennial inability to produce leaders one could talk with.
Anarchs are hypocrites. For all their talk of freedom and equality, they still use humans the same way as any other Kindred do. They preach the right of Kindred to live how they want, yet oppose the desire of Camarilla Kindred to live in the Camarilla.
Anarchs should be grateful, but instead they’re motivated by envy. Without the Camarilla and its Traditions, mortals would have eradicated the Kindred a long time ago. Anarchs fail to understand this. Instead, they are envious of the power elder Camarilla Kindred have accumulated. They want that power for themselves, but they don’t have the patience to work for it.
Anarch areas are not safe. The lack of a Prince or Sheriff means that Anarch cities are dangerous, violent places where Kindred can get killed for any reason, or no reason. Without laws and authority, Kindred society is ruled by the most powerful and the most brutal, who take from others what they want.
Anarchs endanger the Masquerade. Because they have rejected the Traditions, the Anarchs breed like rabbits. Every Anarch city is overpopulated with Kindred. This means that even if the Anarchs had the ablity to maintain the Masquerade, breaches would happen.
Anarchs collaborate with the Second Inquisition. Many Anarchs have never developed a clear Kindred identity. They still see themselves as part of their mortal communities, and because of this, they collaborate with the Second Inquisition to attack all of our kind.
Last and most importantly, remember that everything the Anarchs want is always unrealistic. They don’t understand how the world works, and their ideas are impractical. Sure, their ideas can sound beautiful and just, but they won’t survive contact with reality. This is why the Camarilla is the best and only option.
𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍
— thin-blood; the thin-blood primogen
Not your typical, ever-scheming vampire. Larson is a surprisingly selfless individual. Thrust into a demeaning position in the Camarilla court, his role as Primogen is at best seen as Prince Panhard’s rare attempt at humour, and at worst as a slap in the face to the other members of the council. As far as he is concerned, all the abuse and ridicule is worth it, if his influence can – if only rarely – sway the Prince’s opinion in favour of the downtrodden thin-bloods. It also helps that his position gives a bit more protection to his mortal family, who he cares for dearly.
