I’ll have to download a copy of OpenOffice and see what it makes of my old WriteNow files.
Recall that I delayed the early history of vampirism to the 9th Century, and re-located it to Europe. I did have clans, but I re-wrote most if not all of them, among other things making sure that all provided a Discipline that let the vampire hunt in a world lit only by fire. I recall that I found the names “Toreador” and “Giovanni” too ridiculous to retain….
Gibberish. Was it rather LibreOffice that was supposed to open them correctly?
LibreOffice is the forked update of OpenOffice after the owners of the latter (Oracle) started playing silly games. (OpenOffice was itself forked from StarOffice for a similar reason. OpenOffice and StarOffice are both now dead.)
Much better!
The Camarilla is a universal association of vampires. Its purpose is to protect and enforce the Masquerade. It can do this only because the overwhelming majority of vampires will back it up in this to the hilt. Its authority derives ultimately from the mass of vampires fighting for survival with the desperation of cornered rats. Any attempt by the leaders of the Camarilla to exercise a more general tyranny would fail, lacking the assent of the governed.
Some vampires do not acknowledge the authority of the Camarilla. They are tolerated in this until they endanger others. Then they are destroyed like any other threat. Non-membership brings no immunities.
The Camarilla takes its decisions at Conclaves. These have the authority that subsequent assent with their decisions will grant them. They are occasions for persuasion and the forging of consensus—mere majority decisions are not binding on anybody, except to the extent that the majority are prepared to enforce their decision outside the Conclave chamber. General Conclaves are held in certain mediæval and colonial capitals every year. A Grand Conclave is held at London every seventh year. Representatives come from all around the World, but Europe, and especially London, are over-represented.
An ancient tradition asserted the authority of an elder over his progeny, and the responsibility of the elder to see that they obeyed the traditions. This has been adapted to modern conditions of high mobility by recognition of the powers of princes. Each vampire prince has authority over an area (usually a city), but is responsible to the Camarilla for seeing, within his domain, that the Masquerade is maintained, and that indiscriminate reproduction does not produce a population explosion, nor open conflict a “progeny race”.
It would, however, be an error to see princes as mere functionaries of the Camarilla. The office of prince had already emerged when the Camarilla was formally founded and its traditions codified. The roots of the princes’ power are independent of the Camarilla, and the position of the office of prince within the Camarilla is the result of a deal made at the First Grand Conclave. The princes accepted responsibility to the Camarilla in return for which the Camarilla undertook to uphold their authority and protect their position. As a result, there are no traditions of the Camarilla governing how the office of Prince may be won.
The prince is responsible to the Camarilla in three forms: conclaves, justiciars, and his primogen. Membership of the primogen may be more or less formal. Usually it includes all vampires who would be influential in a local conclave, or who are otherwise so politically powerful that they must be given a voice in the government. Often every vampire in a domain is connected by clan, sect, lineage, or blood-bond to some member of the primogen. Where this is not the case those without any reliable representation are called anarchs, and may constitute a significant faction of dissidents. In many cases the primogen constitutes a de facto ruling council, and in some it openly wields the authority of the Prince.
An important freedom controlled by the Prince and primogen is the right to create progeny. Progeny (especially if blood-bonded to their sires) can help, serve, and defend their sire and his clan, sect, and faction. They are also vital to the survival of such vampires as must drink vampire blood. The Prince supervises reproduction, and so has the best opportunities to create a brood. Often he is forced to share opportunities with his primogen. Others are rarely permitted to create progeny.
The Thirteen Clans are groups of vampires who share bloodlines and special traditions. Each clan tends to pass on to its recruits (through the blood) a common set of Powers. The choice of recruits is often dictated by clan traditions: this fact and early indoctrination tend to give all the members of each clan certain things in common besides Powers. In some cases this is a feature of the recruits’ backgrounds among mortals. In others it is an inclination, ability, or character trait.
Clans are often highly structured, some with vertical integration by blood-bond. Many are factionalised, with Byzantine internal politics, or divisible into septs—sub-clans with the same blood-heritage and traditions, but separated geographically or by internal rivalries. Often a sept will be structured by a pyramid of blood bonds or filial ties to an apical sire.
Legend holds that each of the Thirteen Clans was founded by a Second Generation vampire, one of the Thirteen Progeny of Grandfather Cain (or Grandmother Lilith), the first vampire. Detailed, though unverifiable, accounts are given of the names, natures, and histories of these Founders. Some are said still to be alive—in seclusion, torpor, or incognito.
Clan Brujah were originally the vampire-lords of Northern Germany, though they later spread North, East, South, and into Britain. They recruited from the [German] tribal and feudal nobility, and absorbed the ideal of the warrior-aristocrat.
Since the Camarilla formed the Brujah have developed a warrior tradition, exalting warrior virtues. They have recruited prowess and fighting spirit where-ever they found it, even on the streets and in the boxing ring.
The warrior in Clan Brujah has gradually come to dominate over the aristocrat, the character of recruits becoming ever more pugnacious over the centuries. Some noble and principled elders think the modern clan a boorish rabble. The rabble think them fastidious and effete. A schism is widening between the (generally less numerous and more powerful) junkers and the (generally younger) rabble.
Disciplines: Presence, Potence, Celerity.
Originally the vampire-lords of the pagan South Slavs, the Ceka (or Tjeka) spread mostly to the South-East. They entered the Muslim world through the Balkans and Turkey, but did not spread much further.
The Ceka tended to establish themselves as warlords, and to recruit for reasons of personal advantage, often blood-binding their progeny. They became enmeshed in feuds, intrigues and betrayals, corrupting politics where-ever they went. They developed a tradition of ruthlessness, treachery, and tyranny, earning a name for their cruelty and vengefulness. Eventually disunity and a tendency to degenerate quickly to utter bestiality sapped the clan’s vigour and put a virtual stop to its spread. The Ceka are mistrusted, feared and hated by other vampires and by one another, but the universal truce of the Camarilla prevents their being destroyed like noxious snakes.
Disciplines: Vicissitude, Proteus (usually Wolverine), Presence.
Rather than stake out populous territory and adopt the ways of the local privileged class, the Gangrel set out into the wilds and forests and developed ways to live off sparse populations. They became nomadic predators and, denied safe havens and the society of mortals, took to living and travelling in packs.
The Gangrel preceded the clan vampires to most places, and, since the founding of the Camarilla, have continued their tradition of nomadism and of association with tribal peoples. While retaining a common heritage of hardihood and fierce loyalty to the pack, individual tribes have developed diverse traditions, often borrowing from the folkways and folklore of the peoples among whom they live, and from whom, of course, they recruit. Totemism is common, wolves are widely admired, and there is a widespread tradition of ‘adopting’ outcasts, orphans, and those who dare to face the wilderness alone.
A phenomenon of the modern age is the mechanised Gangrel, who may often travel from city to city (or town to town) rather than wander through the wilds. Like the Ravnos, they poach on others’ territories and visit small communities, but the Gangrel disdain non-kin followers, and prefer hit-and-run tactics to stealth and moderation.
The Gangrel are marginal members of the Camarilla. Disdaining the society of others, they can approach the Masquerade in a different way. Their pack leaders and tribal elders operate differently from Princes and primogen. They tend to vote with their feet (or wheels) rather than rely on conclaves. Finally, some roguish Gangrel will terrorise towns of people and their vampire lords like bandits or bike gangs. This has not helped the Gangrel image.
Disciplines: Animalism, Proteus (usually Wolf), Celerity.
The Labonordo were originally the vampire-lords of Northern Italy. They recruited from the rulers and nobles of the turbulent Italian city-states, and absorbed, it seems, a taste for la dolce vita more than anything else. Unable to appreciate good food and wine, or the pleasures of sex, they became great connoisseurs of art, architecture, music, and splendid clothing.
After the Camarilla was founded Clan Labonordo elaborated their æsthetic tradition, recruiting great æsthetes, artists, composers, and performers. They boast of being the “germ and vector of the Renaissance”. There is some tension within the Labonordo between the æsthetes and those recruited for their beauty on one hand, and actual artists and performers on the other. These factions are known as the poseurs and artistes respectively, though neither likes its label. The recruiting habits of the Labonordo are too erratic for these factions to develop into proper septs.
Disciplines: Auspex, Presence, Celerity.
The Lasombra, vampire-lords of Southern Italy, chose not to take positions in the local nobility. Rather, they set out to rule their domains through secret societies. They became shadowy figures, well-known only to ghoul lieutenants and the thralls of their Domination, ruling through fear, mystery, and the loyalty-to-the-group of mortals who did not know who or what their ultimate masters were.
As well as retaining Southern Italy as a stronghold, they managed to colonise widely as underworld figures: so long as they left political rule to the local clan they would not be worth the trouble of rooting out. Modern Lasombra boast that their clan founded the Mafia, La Cosa Nostra etc., the Order of Assassins, the Thuggee, many Tongs, and the Triad. But not all Lasombra are engaged in organised crime. Some still erect secret societies whose ostensible purpose is social, political, or religious. They especially favour religious blood-cults for herds.
Disciplines: Obtenebration, Domination, Potence.
The Malkavians are a strange group, more a sect than a clan in some ways, and of mysterious, though ancient, origins. Their custom is to kidnap such childer as whose minds have been broken by the passion of the Embrace before their sires can destroy them as tradition requires. The raving childer are forced into torpor by blood deprivation, given a little Malkavian blood, and then stored in a safe place until they come out of torpor. The healing effect of torpor restores their reason, though derangements such as multiple personality disorder, hysteria, amnesia and severe phobias often remain. When the childer return to consciousness they are trained in the traditions and disciplines of the Malkavian clan. Owing to their deranged mental states Malkavians are often short-lived.
Disciplines: Obfuscation, Dementation, Auspex.
Rather than compete for territory with the other clans, the Nosferatu developed a strategy of living inconspicuously alongside the vampire-lords. They would leave the power and glory to the others, and lead modest existences among the underclasses, preying generally on the forlorn and dying, and keeping out of sight.
They associated with the poor, criminals, and oppressed groups, learning to idealise the survivor, to call bravery recklessness, and to hide from trouble. The Nosferatu developed a tradition of secrecy and stealth, admiring cunning and caution. They also learned to stick together: Nosferatu will often help one of their fellows to hide or escape.
The Nosferatu are sly, collect secrets as magpies hoard trinkets, and often use blackmail to assure their security. They recruit, out of a feeling of fellowship, mortals who show a fascination with secrets and who can disappear from mortal society without raising alarm. The other clans consider them vermin.
Disciplines: Obfuscation, Animalism, Potence.
The parasites of the vampire world, the Ravnos have developed a Way of preying on others’ herds, of hunting on others’ turf. Moving around frequently, usually conveyed and protected by ghouls, thralls of Domination, and mortals controlled through superstition, tradition, and fear, the Ravnos take a little here and a little there: never enough to be missed. They often visit towns too small to support a vampire for any length of time. Circuses, carnivals, gypsy troupes, seasonal workers, and old-fashioned touring theatres are favourite covers for Ravnos entourages.
The Ravnos are sneaky, sly, superstitious, ignorant and habitual thieves. They tend to Embrace (as a reward) members of their own entourages, who are usually ill-educated and inculcated to dishonesty. On the other hand, they are very fair and loyal to their followers, and eschew violence unless threatened.
Since the founding of the Camarilla the campaign to exterminate the Ravnos has been discontinued. But they are still despised by the clans, and discouraged by force from trespassing. Other vampires tend to try to confine the Ravnos to the uncertain life and slim pickings of travel between the smaller towns.
Disciplines: Chimæstry, Domination, Auspex.
Clan Salubri were originally the vampire-lords of Southern France, but were pushed into Spain by the Ventrue, and made the cross into the Islamic world via Moorish Spain. The clan eventually spread at least as far as Mogul India. They recruited from the local aristocracy where-ever they went, and absorbed a regard for high birth and good breeding. Now the Salubri Embrace only those who are worthy to join their select society.
Since the founding of the Camarilla the Salubri have developed a tradition of superiority and refined conduct, exalting good birth and breeding. They recruit the acknowledged or de facto aristocracy of local mortal society. While they consider themselves, as vampires, to be above mortals, they value their aristocratic births, and count themselves the aristocracy of vampiredom.
Disciplines: Celerity, Domination, Auspex.
Clan Tremere was originally based in Bavaria and the Alps, but suffered at the hands of the Brujah, the Tzimisce, and the Labonordo.
The clan was saved when it was taken over in a ruthless campaign of diablerie by a secret society of alchemists and magicians, a master of which had been recruited in a moment of desperation. The new Clan Tremere gave up on temporal ambition, went underground, and turned to mysticism and learning.
It spread to many university towns, and followed the progress of astrology to physics and alchemy to chemistry. Clan Tremere now has a tradition of inquiry, and is split into mystical and scientific septs (the latter including mostly younger members), with a liberal seasoning of neutral scholars and philosophers.
Disciplines: Domination, Auspex, and either Necromancy (Speculative sept) or Technomancy (Empirical sept).
The Tzimisce were originally the vampire-lords of Bohemia, and spread rapidly through Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria into Southern Russia and the Byzantine Empire. They entered the Muslim world as the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire, and spread at least at far as mediæval Persia.
The Tzimisce recruited with an eye to gaining power, whatever the circumstances in which they found themselves. In the Byzantine labyrinth of Balkans politics this meant absorbing craftiness, ruthlessness, and treachery. Basing their dominion on fear, the Tzimisce were nevertheless quick to show favour when to their advantage. Like the ideal prince of Machiavelli, they subordinated anger, hatred, and vengefulness to their desire for power. When they punished their opponents it was to set an example, and because less could be won by forgiveness. They became known for subtle plots, elaborate intrigues, treachery, ruthlessness, and Machiavellian pragmatism. Since the founding of the Camarilla the Tzimisce have tended to become politicians, tycoons, apparatchic, and criminal bosses, though retaining a sprinkling of warlords and the like. The chief limits on the spread of their power has been internal struggles and the profound mistrust of other vampires.
Disciplines: Obtenebration, Proteus (usually Owl), Potence.
The Ventrue were originally the vampire-lords of Northern France. They colonised England in the early eleventh century (displacing the Brujah), and pushed the Salubri out of Southern France. The Ventrue recruited from the French and Norman nobility, absorbing the ideal of chivalry while being spread as far as Sicily and Palestine (whence they entered the Islamic sphere).
After the founding of the Camarilla the Ventrue developed a tradition of chivalry and good faith, exalting courtliness and honour. They recruit persons of noble character– sometimes from the most unlikely places, but usually from the upper classes.
Sceptics cast doubt on the honour of the Ventrue, saying that their chivalry is no more reliable than that of a feudal baron. Be that as it may, the Ventrue at least guard their reputations, and this regard usually makes their [publicly given] word good. Of all the clans, the Ventrue most regard vampirism as a gift to be bestowed only upon the worthy. Their recruiting policy has tended, if anything, to improve their character over time.
Disciplines: Presence, Auspex, Celerity.
Originally the vampire-lords of Poland, the Ziska spread through the trackless forests of the East Slav lands. Cities in this area were few, far between, and usually dominated by Russ or German Brujah. The Ziska became the lords of vast domains, within the forests of which scattered villages provided sustenance. The Ziska did not establish identities and live among their flocks as other vampire-lords did. Instead they made refuges in the forest and lived apart. They would prey on one village and then another, sometimes as an unseen predator in the forest, occasionally as a visiting stranger.
Russia was a hostile land in those days, and the Ziska had often to help their scattered herds to survive. Their benevolence may have been that of the shepherd who plans to dine on mutton, but it established among the Ziska a tradition of fostering and protecting ‘their’ mortals. Even to today the Ziska are careful of the well-being of their herds, the people of their turf, a solicitude encouraged by fellow clansmen as well as by self-interest. It is a point of honour, a source of prestige among the Ziska to be the hidden lord of a prosperous people.
Disciplines: Animalism, Proteus (usually Bear), Presence.
Caitiff are vampires who are not accepted members of any clan. They may be the progeny of other caitiff, or have been lost, ‘orphaned’, or abandoned by their sires. Caitiff generally lack recognition and political support in the Camarilla. They therefore find it difficult to obtain hunting rights and the right to create progeny. This, and the fact that many are ignorant of the traditions governing the Camarilla, means that they tend to break the laws and suffer for it. Solitude and insecurity generally cause a rapid loss of humanity, madness, and early death. Caitiff also bear the brunt of many of the dangers to vampires, as they lack the resources, support, traditions, and knowledge which ensure survival. Caitiff are the homeless street-people, below even the ‘poor trash’ Nosferatu. They are sometimes victims of extermination campaigns (ostensibly because of their law-breaking and supposedly endangering the Masquerade), and if they fall prey to diabolists, usually no-one will notice.
Sects are groups united by an unverifiable belief or common ethical standard. In this they resemble mortal religious communities, and indeed many owe their tenets to the religious beliefs carried by mediæval mortals into their unlives. Sects may have a geographical or ethnico-religious basis. Some are linked to one or a few clans. Others are very widespread. Here are some widespread, influential, or interesting sects.
The Inconnu seek to stem the loss of their humanity by adherence to ethical codes which quell passion, by assiduously following a path of even tenor. Stoicism and Buddhism have been important influences among the Inconnu.
Critics allege that the Inconnu lose as much humanity by suppressing their normal human passions as they preserve by avoiding sin.
Borrowing doctrines from such dualistic sources as Gnosticism, Manichæism, and Zoroastrianism, the Cathari hold that vampires are the servants and favourites of an evil equal of the good god, or at least of a rebel against the tyranny of the creator. The Cathari revel in their vampiric powers and lusts, and often associate with mortal Satanists, and members of dualistic religions, presenting themselves, in good faith, as creatures and representatives of the Dark Powers.
The Sabbat is a group whose doctrine holds that the vitæ of elders is a precious resource, the property of the community. They argue that, when it becomes necessary to destroy an [early generation] vampire, the execution should be carried out by carefully-planned diablerie. If their advice is not followed, they argue, the blood of vampires will eventually grow weaker and weaker, to the general loss. A radical group urge further that elders should be ritually killed, as ancient god-kings were, when their vigour, sanity, and will-to-live begin to show signs of waning.
It is not good form, polite, politic, or safe to express Sabbat views openly. The elders fear the Sabbat. Attempts to act on Sabbat doctrine are the most dangerous business in the Camarilla, and are met with ultimate force.
Millenarians believe that the current race of vampires are the progeny of certain ‘Ancients’ who need vampire blood, and that these Ancients will one day (soon) arise from torpor and harvest their crop, creating a new race of vampires to repeat the cycle [again]. Most Millenarians are like survivalists, and plan to evade the Ancients’ notice. They try to keep secluded from the ‘prey’. Others are evangelical preaching and organised effort to resist the Ancients or to track them down in torpor and destroy them.
The Fifth Tradition forbids any vampire to make a record of the nature, identity, or doings of any of the Kindred, for fear that this record might fall into mortal hands. Lack of records makes it very hard to reconstruct the history of the Kindred. Verbal tradition and individual memories would be unreliable enough over the timespan involved, even had not older vampires lied out of policy or to conceal their secrets, or reported speculations as fact.
The First and Second generations are almost certainly mythical, even though circumstantial stories of their names and deeds are current. Various traditions name either Cain or Lilith as the First Generation vampire, and a single member of the Second Generation is posited as the founder of each Clan.
The first vampires of which any reliable knowledge exists are the so-called Third Generation. These began to Embrace progeny about 800 AD, by which time they were already old, and already represented several distinct groups, forerunners of the Clans. By circa 900 AD the Third Generation seem to have vanished– into torpor according to some, killed by their progeny according to others.
The Sect known as Millenarians hold that the Third Generation created the Fourth to replace a previously devoured race of vampires, and that the current race will one day face the hunger of their progenitors. Another theory suggests that the Fourth Generation was embraced as soon as the Third discovered the power of vampire blood to create true progeny, rather than just ghouls.
About 920 AD the Fifth Generation began to emerge, and vampirism to spread rapidly from its original home in mid-Western Europe. By 1000 AD the ways of life of the Clans had settled down, and those clans who tended to rule domains and husband their populations like cattle (i.e. the Brujah, Ceka, Labonordo, Lasombra, Salubri, Tremere, Tzimisce, Ventrue, and Ziska) were competing for territory. The Fifth generation were being allowed to embrace progeny by 1140, and by this time some knowledge of the existence of vampires had definitely entered the vulgar awareness. Vampires were seen as beings of evil, vampire lords were often recognised, and many vampires succumbed to sunlight, stake, and fire.
Any relevant records in the Vatican would seem to have been stolen, destroyed, or altered, but tradition among the vampires holds that the Inquisition discovered and destroyed many vampires. Many crucial secrets were discovered by the Inquisition, and a special program for the destruction of vampires is attested by survivors from the period. There followed a period of great turbulence and violence, with savage campaigns of annihilation fought by the Inquisition and the vampires. Both the vampires and the vampire-hunters found it expedient to work in secrecy. There are even tales of emissaries of the Inquisition carrying reports of the vampire menace to the Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Mongols, and even to China.
By the end of the Thirteenth Century vampires in Europe had been forced almost completely underground. Nearly all vampires on the Continent lived either in hiding or elaborately disguised as humans. Refugees had fled to Britain, Scandinavia, the Muslim world, and the Orthodox lands, into Africa, Asia, and possibly even to America¹. In 1300 leading vampires held a conclave in Westminster Abbey in London (England was out of the purview of the Inquisition). This conclave adopted the proposals of Peter de Maricourt (a Tremere), and established the Camarilla, the Masquerade, and the Traditions.
To reinforce the Masquerade, the Traditions included provisions to prevent warfare between the Clans, amounting to a general truce. They also limited the creation of new vampires, to keep the population low. This is to keep vampires controllable and to ensure that safe opportunities for feeding are plentiful. To secure their assent to the program, the established Princes were guaranteed security and power. Elaborate structures were erected to enforce the law of the Camarilla, including the regular conclaves and the office of Justiciar.
The vampires of Europe exerted themselves to efface awareness of vampires from the mortal consciousness. They adopted elaborate disguises, and sought to eradicate all evidence of the existence of their kind. Vampiric attacks on the Inquisition came to an end. The community banded together to aid and rescue their fellows, so that no further specimens would come into the hands of their enemies. A program was begun to destroy all documents and memories of vampires, so that the kind could slip into obscurity.
More subtly, influential vampires worked to promote scepticism, humanism, and materialism. The aim was to change Man’s world-view so that people would discount stories of vampires as superstition. They worked to undermine the Church, and to make it insist ever more dogmatically on ever-sillier theologies. They stirred up trouble between Church and State. They promoted the translation and study of Arab, Latin, and Greek learning. They sponsored and encouraged scientific inquiry, steering it well away from the supernatural.
The leading clans in the Camarilla became the Ventrue, Tremere, and Labonordo. The Ventrue’s peculiar irreligious chivalry drove them to promote secular ethics and the study of classical philosophy. The Labonordo were stirred by their aestheticism to sponsor the new flowering of the arts. The Tremere threw themselves into the new empirical science and so became like Saul, who went to search for his father’s ass and found a kingdom.
The Camarilla sent missionaries where-ever vampires had gone, to proselytise for the new order. It was no part of their plan to have certain proof of their existence come from outside Europe. Not until the Fifteenth Century were the Traditions recognised in Romania and Russia, not until the Eighteenth in India. The Ceka finally had to be subdued by force. Non-urban Gangrel and Ziska do not go along with the letter of the Masquerade even to this day.
Over the intervening centuries the clans have developed and elaborated their traditions. The ratio of vampires to general population has been allowed to fall to approximately one per fifty thousand urban population. Vampirism has spread to every corner of the globe.
The latest development in the Masquerade is the recent controversial move to popularise the smouldering myth of the vampire in fiction and movies. Orthodoxy had held that every trace of knowledge of vampirism should be expunged. A daring new plan is to make everyone familiar with the legend, so that slips in the Masquerade will produce incredulity rather than curiosity. When Bram Stoker’s Dracula appeared most Kindred reacted with outrage, and several Justiciars attempted to discover if a vampire was behind it, and punish him if one were. Now the plan is recognised as a success, though some conservatives still think it was an unwarranted risk. The mastermind has not claimed responsibility. Some claim to recognise the genius of Peter de Maricourt. Others say only a child of the modern age could have conceived the scheme.
About 1880 the Thirteenth Generation began to emerge; by 1900 the last of the Fourth Generation had vanished into torpor. The explosive growth of cities, and their coalescence into metropolises, has brought Princes into conflict. In some places a feudal hierarchy has appeared, in others there are constant turf wars along the disputed boundaries between domains. New recruits, infected with the spirit of a new age, tend to be independent and turbulent. The old leaders of the Camarilla are losing their control over the increasingly violent and intractable Brujah and Gangrel, and the power among mortals of the Tzimisce and Lasombra is threatening to crush the other clans. A faction is gathering strength which holds that Science, the creature of the Camarilla, is giving mortals tools that it would be better they did not have. It also suggests that the organisation and authority of the modern State is a danger to the Kindred, and that Something Should Be Done.
The Traditions were formulated at the first Grand Conclave of the Camarilla, held in London in 1300. Because they would prove the existence of the Kindred, they are never written down. There follows a Modern English version, freely translated from the original Mediæval Latin.
Vampires are careful about being overheard, and also have a need to speak of habits, deeds, and types which are outside the experience of mortals. Their cant helps to conceal their meaning from casual eavesdroppers, and also provides terms for some peculiarly vampiric things.
In many cases it is forbidden to use words or phrases which are too explicit about vampires and vampirism, and in all cases it is bad manners. For example, the word ‘vampire’ is taboo, and blood is never referred to as ‘blood’ when discussed as a means of sustenance.
Alleycat: (modern) A clanless, haven-less, and/or unsanctioned vampire. cf. Caitiff.
Anarch: A dissident against the [local] government of the vampire milieu.
Ancients: Mythical or legendary progenitors of the vampires, in torpor since at least 900 AD, and believed to compose the first three generations.
Ancilla: A vampire of some experience and standing—no longer a neonate, not yet an elder.
Angel: A vampire (often a Cathari) who presents himself as a messenger of the Dark Powers to a herd of blood cultists.
Archon: A deputy of a Justiciar.
Artiste: (derisive) A Labonordo recruited for his artistic ability.
Banking: (modern) The practice of stealing or embezzling from a blood-bank. Banking is frowned upon as endangering the Masquerade.
Barrel: (modern) A person, considered as a source of blood.
Becoming: [The time of] turning into a vampire.
Beast: The vicious, predacious side of a vampire’s nature, believed to be a supernatural being, resident in the heart, and conferring the powers and abilities of a vampire.
Blood: Lineage (as traced from Childe to Sire). That passed on from a vampire’s Sire, which confers vampiric powers (e.g. ‘strong blood’, ‘weak blood’).
Blood Bond: The infatuation felt by one who has drunk of a [another] vampire’s blood three times. The power held as a result of this infatuation by the donor of the blood. See regent, blood-doll, thrall.
Blood Doll: (derogatory) A person (usually a ghoul or vampire) who is subject to a blood bond.
Blood Hunt: The hunting-down and destruction of one who breaks the Traditions by a posse of vampires. Diablerie is often tolerated in the prosecution of a blood hunt.
Blood Kin: Fellow vampires, especially those of the same blood.
**Blood Line: A vampire’s lineage, the sequence of Sires linking him back to the Second Generation.
Brood: A vampire’s progeny, especially if they associate with one another as a coterie.
Brujah: [Vampires of] one of the clans, which has a martial tradition.
Bung: (modern) The lick of a vampire’s tongue, stopping bleeding and sealing wounds.
Caitiff: A vampire (abandoned by his Sire, orphaned, or Embraced by another caitiff) who is not a member of any clan. Lacking patrons and powerful friends, a caitiff is usually weak and poor, and often lacks a fief or turf.
Camarilla: The global community of vampires, especially the organised part of it, dedicated to the Masquerade. The society of vampires in general.
Canaille: (archaic) Mortals, considered as a mass of inferior beings.
Cauchemar: (archaic) A vampire who feeds of sleeping victims.
Cathari: Members of a dualistic vampire religion, who believe vampires to be creatures and favourites of an evil god.
Ceka: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a monstrous reputation.
Childe: A newly embraced vampire, not yet presented at a conclave. One of the progeny {of a particular vampire}.
Clan: One of thirteen groups of vampires, defined by shared blood, and having traditions about who may be recruited, general behaviour, and ways of obtaining blood for sustenance.
Conclave: A gathering of Vampires to discuss policy and hammer out consensus.
Coterie: A group of vampires banded together for companionship and mutual support, perhaps a Sire and his get, or a regent and his thralls.
Cunctator: A vampire who drinks too little of each victim’s blood to harm them (and who consequently must hunt often).
Diablerie: The act of killing a vampire for his blood (to obtain part of his power).
Doctor: A vampire who obtains blood from blood banks or blood donors under the pretext of being a medical researcher or practitioner.
Domain: The area [claimed to be] ruled by a Prince, often divided into the fiefs and turf of a number of subject vampires
Donor: A person, considered as a source of blood.
Elder: A vampire of power and standing: primogen or [local] clan leader.
Embrace: The act whereby a [particular] person is or was made into a vampire. It is an agonising and sometimes unbearable experience. cf. Passion, recruit.
Enigma: The fundamental dilemma of the life of a vampire, referring to the impossibility of indefinite self-restraint and the danger of losing humanitas in frenzy: “Monsters we must be, lest monsters we become”.
Farmer: (derogatory) A vampire who feeds on the blood of animals. This Way is rarely tenable after the first century of existence as a vampire.
Fief: A territory within a domain, claimed by, or given by the Prince to, a vampire or coterie as an exclusive hunting ground. (derisive) A [small] domain.
Flamen: (archaic) A vampire who poses as priest in a blood cult, [secretly] drinking the blood sacrifices. cf. Preacher.
Gangrel: [A member of] one of the clans, associated with tribal peoples, and having a tradition of nomadism, and of subsisting on scattered rural and wilderness populations, often forming packs.
General Conclave: A conclave, usually held at some mediæval or colonial capital, attended by vampires from several domains.
Get: (derisive) A vampire’s childer.
Ghoul: A mortal who has superhuman abilities and longevity as a result of drinking vampire blood.
Grand Conclave: The world conclave, held at London every seven years.
Gypsy: A nickname for one of the Ravnos.
Haven: A secure place, where a vampire passes the days, usually secret, and always proof against sunlight.
Head: (modern, derisive) A vampire who habitually feeds on the intoxicated, to borrow the effects of their drugs, especially one who favours a particular drug: e.g. acid-head, dope-head, speed-head.
Herd: A group of mortals from whom a vampire repeatedly feeds, often surrounded by precautions to prevent breach of the Masquerade.
Herder: A vampire who maintains and feeds on a herd.
Humanitas: The amount of human nature remaining in a vampire’s constitution, tending to be eroded by inhumanity, detachment, and solitude, and valued as promoting a human appearance, the capacity to act during the day, resistance to frenzy, and the intellectual and volitional faculties.
Hunger: The craving of a vampire for blood. The Hunger is to an addict’s cravings as they are to a normal appetite. Satiation of the Hunger is as much greater than normal gratification. The Hunger brings the Beast to the surface, suppressing the Man, and can therefore be dangerous to a vampire.
Inconnu: A sect of vampires, influenced by Stoicism and Buddhism, who try to walk a middle path between provoking and indulging the passions of the Beast, and thus retain their humanitas.
Incubus: A male vampire who engages his victims in erotic play, and drinks their blood in guise of a sexual act or during their post-coital sleep. cf. succubus. See Kiss.
Junkers: (derisive) A faction of the Brujah clan, deploring the violence and pugnacity of the Rabble. The Junkers are mostly older members of the clan.
Justiciar: A vampire commissioned by a conclave to enforce the Traditions, often with a roving brief. Justicars are usually personally powerful.
Kin: A vampire. The vampires. A fellow-member of a clan.
Kindred: The vampires.
Kine: (archaic) Mortals, especially when considered as lesser beings or as livestock.
Kiss: To drink the blood of {a person}. The power of a vampire’s bite to paralyse volition, fill the victim with ecstasy and euphoria, and to cloud the victim’s memory of its occurrence. Vampires sometimes apply it to one another as an erotic act.
Labonordo: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a strong tradition of æstheticism.
Lasombra: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a tradition of manipulating secret societies.
Leshy: Nickname of the Ziska, and Russian name for the Ziska vampires of the Russian homeland.
Lick: (vulgar) A vampire, especially (derisive) one who does not kill his prey, but licks their wounds shut. (Gangrel slang) A non-Gangrel vampire.
Malkavi: One of the clans, which has a tradition of rescuing insane childer from destruction by their Sires (which is required by tradition).
Malkavian: A member of the Malkavi clan.
Man: The thinking, feeling side of a vampire’s nature, believed to reside in the brain, and often identified with the original person made into a vampire by the embrace. A vampire’s Humanitas determines how much the Man, as opposed to the Beast, makes up of his character. Most vampires identify themselves with the Man, and fear loss of Humanitas as a lost of identity to the Beast.
Masquerade: The secrecy with which vampires surround their very existence, and especially the requirement that every vampire maintain a fictitious identity among mortals.
Millenarian: A vampire who believes that the progenitors of the vampire race will one day arise from torpor to devour their descendants. Most Millenarians are secretive survivalists. A few campaign for the discovery and destruction of the Ancients.
Neonate: A vampire recently introduced to the society of vampires, who has made his coming-out and is no longer a childe, but who does not yet have the independent standing of an ancilla.
Neutral: A rare person immune to all vampiric powers and disciplines, including being made into a ghoul or vampire.
Nosferatu: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a tradition of furtiveness and of occupying the fringes of mortal and vampire society.
Osiris: (archaic) A vampire who plays the part of a god, demanding blood sacrifices from a herd of worshippers. The practice is obsolete, but see angel, preacher, and flamen.
Pack: A group of Gangrel travelling and hunting together. Any group vampires who live like Gangrel. (derog.) Coterie.
Papillon: A vampire who frequents mortal parties, social events, and night spots, in the role of a dilletante, and feeds on social contacts, perhaps as a siren, incubus, or succubus.
Passion: The agony felt while being embraced, together with the mental anguish caused in certain childer by the feeling of loss of humanity on becoming a vampire.
Poseur: (derog.) A Labonordo lacking artistic ability, especially one recruited for personal beauty, and lacking even a nice æsthetic sense.
Preacher: (modern) A vampire who poses as priest in a blood cult, [secretly] drinking the blood sacrifices. cf. Flamen.
Primogen: The leading vampires of a large city, councillors of the Prince or de facto ruling council.
Prince: The ruling vampire, or figurehead, of a domain, especially a city. Originally, about 1300, the term referred to the vampire lord of a mediæval city, with only a small coterie of subordinates, and may have started as a euphemism for ‘vampire’.
Progeny: [One of] the vampires embraced by a particular vampire. All of a vampire’s progeny, considered as a group.
Rabble: (derisive) A faction of the Brujah, exalting fighting ability above all else, and considering the Junkers effete and over-nice.
Rack: Nightclubs etc., the places mortals go to find partners, considered as a hunting-ground.
Rake: A [male] vampire who hunts the rack, especially picking up victims as if for sexual liaison. cf. Incubus, succubus, tease.
Raking: Hunting the Rack, as a Rake.
Ravnos: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a tradition of roaming, and of poaching on others’ domains.
Recruit: To embrace a person, especially one desirable as a future member of one’s clan. A childe, especially one embraced because of his desirability as a clansman.
Regent: (archaic) The donor of the blood in a blood-bond, object of the infatuation of the thrall or blood-doll.
Rogue: A vampire who preys on other vampires.
Sabbat: A group of vampires who espouse diablerie as a means of preventing the blood of older vampires from being lost when they die or go into torpor.
Salubri: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a tradition of refined conduct and of recruiting only the aristocracy.
Sanctuary: Recognised meeting-places for vampires, not part of any fief or turf, where hunting and hostile acts between vampires are forbidden. What goes on in sanctuary, especially the politics of the domain, primogen, and Camarilla.
Sandman: (modern) A vampire who feeds of sleeping victims. cf. Cauchemar.
Sect: A group of vampires who share an opinion or belief, like a religion or political party. eg. Cathari, Inconnu, Millenarians, Sabbat.
Seigneur: A vampire who establishes control over an inhabited territory and feeds on the citizens, especially one who adopted the role of one of the mortal ruling class.
Sire: The vampire who embraced one.
Siren: A vampire, especially female, who draws mortals to seek her out in private [for sexual dalliance] and then feeds on them, especially one who kills her victims. cf. succubus, incubus, tease.
Slummer: A vampire who exists by slumming.
Slumming: The practice of feeding on derelicts, the homeless, and drunks in the streets.
Snob: (derog.) Nickname for a Salubri.
Stalker: A mortal who hunts vampires.
Succubus: A female vampire who engages her victims in erotic play, and drinks their blood in guise of a sexual act or during their post-coital sleep. cf. incubus. See Kiss.
Tap: (modern) To drink the blood of {a person}.
Tease: (modern, derog.) A vampire who picks up victims as if for sexual liaison, especially one who does not engage in actual sex. cf. incubus, succubus.
Thrall: (archaic) A person (usually a ghoul or vampire) who is subject to a blood bond.
Tory: Nickname for a Ventrue.
Tremere: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a a tradition of recruiting mystics and scientists.
Turf: (modern) A fief, especially that of a gang or pack of younger vampires who siezed, rather than were granted, it. (derog.) A domain, especially suggesting that the Prince’s only right to it is force.
Tzimisce: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a tradition for Machiavellianism.
Underlord: A nickname for a Lasombra.
Vegetary: (derog.) A vampire who feeds [solely] on animal blood. cf. Farmer.
Ventrue: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a tradition of chivalry and honour.
Vermin: (derog.) A nickname for Nosferatu.
Vessel: (archaic) A person, considered as a source of blood.
Vitæ: (archaic) Blood (as food) or blood.
Warlock: A nickname for a Tzimisce.
Way: A technique, such as raking, herding, or slumming, for obtaining a steady supply of blood. Vampire jargon distinguishes scores of, often only subtly different, Ways.
Werewolf: A nickname for a Gangrel.
Whelp: (derisive) Childe.
Whig: A vampire who attempts to preserve his humanitas by immersing himself in mortal affairs.
Wizard: A nickname for a Tremere.
Ziska: [A vampire of] one of the clans, which has a tradition of herding rural populations.
More archival text
From ???@??? Tue May 04 01:25:42 1999
To: VAMPIRE
From: Brett Evill b.evill@tyndale.apana.org.au
Subject: 32 means of unlivelihood
Cc:
Bcc:
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Message-Id: <l03102805b353685d8dc9@[202.12.90.166]>
G’day
I plan to post some thoughts about how clans/disciplines and Humanity/Paths interact with vampires’ means of unlivelihood soon. Just to make sure that we all start on the same page I am going to list the 32 basic ways that a vampire can regularly obtain blood that I can think of. People who have been subscribing to the list for a while will have seen most of this material before.
MEANS FOR KINDRED SATISFIED WITH ANIMAL BLOOD
HUNTING: you chase animals down, catch them, and drain their blood.
TRAITS: Survival, Stealth, Athletics, Firearms, Celerity, Auspex, Protean, Obfuscate
DISADVANTAGES: You must go into the wild- danger of meeting puppies.
TRAPPING: Set snares. Do the rounds of them nightly and drink what you
have caught.
TRAITS: Survival
DISADVANTAGES: Pins you down. Unreliable. Time-consuming. Not responsive to urgency.
CATTLE MUTILATION: you sneak around farms and tap the livestock,
fatally or non-fatally.
TRAITS: Stealth, Animalism, Animal Ken, Obfuscate
DISADVANTAGES: Trouble if the graziers protect their flocks from wolves &c. Moderately conspicuous.
‘VEGATARIANISM’: Keep livestock and tap it at your leisure.
TRAITS: Animal Ken, Animalism, Resources
DISADVANTAGES: Needs a feedlot- but basically a fine, safe Means.
RATTIES: use Animalism to lure animals to you, pounce, voila!
TRAITS: Animalism, Brawl, Firearms
DISADVANTAGES: Only really rewarding on the unfenced range: puppie-town.
SHAMBLES: Buy livestock, drain the blood, butcher the carcass and sell
the meat.
TRAITS: Resources, retainers (to transact business)
DISADVANTAGES: Needs a slaughterhouse- but basically a fine, safe Means.
MEANS FOR KINDRED WISHING FOR HUMAN BLOOD
A: HUNTING
PROWLING: Go out, find a person alone, attack them, drink their blood,
kill them.
TRAITS: Perception, Alertness, Stealth, combat skills, Celerity, Potence, Auspex, Protean, Presence
DISADVANTAGES: Danger of discovery, danger of Humanity loss, produces
embarrassing corpses.
THE HUNT: Go out, find a person alone, beat them unconscious, drink
their blood.
TRAITS: Perception, Alertness, Stealth, combat skills, Celerity, Potence, Auspex, Protean, Presence
DISADVANTAGES: Danger of Humanity loss (at high Humanity), leaves witnesses, small rewards.
MINDWIPE: Go out, find a person alone, Dominate them, drink their
blood, erase their memories of the attack.
TRAITS: As for the Hunt, but requires two dots of Dominate as well.
DISADVANTAGES: Small rewards.
B: RAKING
STALKING: Go to a night-spot, pick up a person of easy virtue, take
them apart, drink their blood, kill them.
TRAITS: Appearance, Charisma, Manipulation, Presence, Dominate,
Subterfuge, Acting, Masquerade, combat skills.
DISADVANTAGES: Witnesses to the pickup. Danger of Humanity loss, produces embarrassing corpses.
DATE-RAPE: Go to a night-spot, pick up a person of easy virtue, take
them apart, beat them senseless, drink their blood.
TRAITS: Appearance, Charisma, Manipulation, Presence, Dominate,
Subterfuge, Acting, Masquerade.
DISADVANTAGES: Danger of Humanity loss. Danger of complaints to the police. Small rewards.
LURING: Go to a night-spot. Use Dominate or Presence to draw a victim
out of the crowd. Proceed as for stalking or date-rape.
TRAITS: As for Stalking or Date-rape, but requires one dot of Dominate or four of Presence.
DISADVANTAGES: As for Stalking or Date-rape, but leaves fewer witnesses.
SEDUCTION: Go to a night-spot or brothel, engage a person of easy
virtue in sexual intimacy. Pass off the Kiss as an erotic act. Drink their
blood.
TRAITS: Appearance, Charisma, Manipulation, Presence, Dominate,
Subterfuge, Acting, Masquerade, high Humanity.
DISADVANTAGES: Small rewards.
INCUBUS: Go to a night-spot or brothel, engage a person of easy virtue as if for sexual intimacy. Drink their blood. Cloud their mind with Dominate.
TRAITS: Appearance, Charisma, Manipulation, Presence, Dominate,
Subterfuge, Acting, Masquerade. Needs three dots of Dominate.
DISADVANTAGES: Small rewards.
C: STEALTH
CAUCHEMAR: Steal into the bedchambers of sleepers. Drink their blood
while they sleep.
TRAITS: Stealth, Security, Athletics (climbing), Obfuscate, Dominate
DISADVANTAGES: Danger of awakening sleepers, Alarms and guards. Small rewards.
ROLLING DRUNKS. Find inebriated persons in private places. Drink their
blood while they sleep.
TRAITS: Stealth, Obfuscate, Dominate.
DISADVANTAGES: Danger of surprise by other parties. Danger of victim waking. Small rewards if you don't kill victims, Humanity loss and embarrassing corpses if you do.
D: COLLECTING
ROBBERY: Rob blood banks (by stickup or break-in).
TRAITS: Presence, Charisma, Intimidation- or Security, Obfuscate, etc.
DISADVANTAGES: Terrible publicity.
BANKING. Set up your own blood-bank, or a collection agency for
someone else’s. Skim the blood you need, and if records are kept, say it was disposed of as coming from a donor in an AIDS category.
TRAITS: Resources, Retainers, Contacts, Allies.
DISADVANTAGES: Exposed to hunters.
EMBEZZLEMENT. Have an ally or retainer steal blood from a blood bank, collection agency, or hospital for you.
TRAITS: Retainers, Contacts, Allies.
DISADVANTAGES: Exposed to hunters.
MEDICO. Go under cover as a doctor or medical researcher. Buy blood for transfusion or research. Drink it.
TRAITS: Resources. Or Medicine, Masquerade, high Humanity.
DISADVANTAGES: Exposed to hunters.
E: HERDING AND VARIATIONS
HERDING: establish a herd of mortals. Ensure their silence by Dominate
(two dots), Presence, fear, or making them into blood-bound ghouls, or with
drugs. Tap them regularly.
TRAITS: Presence, Dominate, Influence.
DISADVANTAGES: risk of completely blowing the Masquerade.
FLAMEN: establish yourself as priest of a blood-cult. After the ceremonies, surreptitiously drink the offerings.
TRAITS: Presence, Dominate, Charisma, Acting, Subterfuge, Leadership, Contacts, Resources, Masquerade, high Humanity.
DISADVANTAGES: Not responsive to urgency. A little exposed to hunters and religious prejudices.
OSIRIS: as for Flamen, but claim to be a god, angel, or other supernatural intermediary, and drink the offerings openly.
TRAITS: As for Flamen.
DISADVANTAGES: As for Flamen, except that the risks are greater, and the need for high Humanity or Masquerade possibly not so great.
COURTESAN: become a prostitute, or otherwise establish numerous sexual contacts, and tap each a little at a time, using Dominate to cloud their minds, or passing the Kiss off as a sexual act.
TRAITS: Appearance, Charisma, Manipulation, Presence, Dominate, Subterfuge, Acting, Masquerade, high Humanity.
DISADVANTAGES: Small rewards. Time consuming.
KEEPER: obtain power over the patients at a hospital or asylum, or
the prisoners in a gaol. Tap them at your leisure.
TRAITS: Resources, Influence, Charisma, Manipulation, Subterfuge, Acting, Dominate. At least two dots of Dominate are required where such institutions are supervised.
DISADVANTAGES:
HAUNT: Sneak into a gaol or lunatic asylum and tap the inmates either as a cunctator or otherwise. No-one will believe your victims or witnesses, and corpses may be blamed on other inmates.
TRAITS: Stealth, Security, Obfuscate, Dominate, Dementation, combat
skills.
DISADVANTAGES: Danger of discovery. Danger of Humanity loss.
MEANS FOR KINDRED REQUIRING VAMPIRE BLOOD
27: HUNTING
DISADVANTAGES: The most dangerous prey on Earth. Except for puppies.
28: HERDING: send your blood-bound childer out to eat kine. Tap them yourself. You don’t have to inconvenience them much, let alone kill them.
TRAITS: Status
DISADVANTAGES: requires a sizeable coterie of childer.
MEANS FOR KINDRED REQUIRING THE BLOOD OF ELDERS
29: HUNTING: you’re kidding, right?
30: HERDING: requires Dominate, spectacular trickery, or lots of forethought.
31: CROPPING: You embrace a bunch of childer, blood-bind them, and then go to sleep for a few hundred years. When you wake up, reel them in as needed.
32: PERMANENT TORPOR
Does anyone have anything to add?
Regards,
VTM5e has obviously been reading your notes, because they have incorporated a “hunting style” into character gen - that’s what gives a character their 3rd discipline (the clan only gives 2 in chargen, though each clan has 3 to pick from).
Slaughterhouses… I was always puzzled by the lack of slaughterhouses in the World of Darkness. Perhaps zoning laws in the USA prevent them being cited with a 100 miles of a city? Perhaps the UK is just so crowded that they are nearer and/or in population centres? Also in Paris - a friend sent a delightful postcard which was a Victorian photo of the knacker’s yard guys posing with sledgehammers just before they killed a horse. There was a sausage factory in Aberdeenshire which back in the 70s got fined for dumping their blood in the local river (and killing it stone cold dead - apparently only milk can make a river go anaerobic more quickly than blood). I wrote a Werewolf plot based on that factoid. Meanwhile, I used to know a guy who was a biology lab tech and one of his weekly tasks was to go and fetch 3 demijohns of blood from a slaughterhouse to feed the Biology Dept’s tsetse fly population.
Seeing in the dark… because I read Werewolf before I read Vampire, I just assumed VTM worked like that. Namely all PCs can see in the dark better than a human can, but the ones with the Gift/Discipline can see in total darkness, such as down a coal mine.
Slaughterhouses part 2… or perhaps the writers of original VTM think that meat grows in little polystyrene trays on supermarket shelves and are unaware that you need to get rid of the blood to make the meat last longer.
It wouldn’t be surprising if they had read my notes — perhaps it would be surprising if they hadn’t — I was a fairly prolific and I think well-known poster on the VAMPIRE-L listserv twenty years ago.
Chicago was the slaughterhouse capital of the USA from the 1850s, with a slow decline from the Great War onwards.
Most folks wouldn’t know to look for a slaughterhouse these days. They tend to be more rural and where urban try to be good neighbors.
Blood is sold as an offal product with commodity values. Blood meal has feed ingredient and pet food uses. Observing from poultry operations, blood is a known component of good live pounds delivered and shrink could be calculated if a Van Helsing type were looking for a vampire around a plant and could obtain offal contract and hauling information.
Though I hear nightmarish stories from people who live in US towns where a chicken-slaughtering plant has set up. All of a sudden their house values collapse and they can’t afford to leave, though they really want to.
Perhaps then say, “try to not get sued perpetually” for “try to be good neighbors.”
A discussion of the labor force for the plant, existing community’s perceptions of that labor force, and employer’s and government’s treatment of that labor force contribute not only to the property value problems but contain modern horror in and of themselves without vampires wandering around.