WELCOME TO THE EMERALD CITY

Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 744,955 residents as of 2018, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America.

Seattle has a temperate climate, classified in the Mediterranean zone by the main climatic classification. It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers. he climate is sometimes characterized as a "modified Mediterranean" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a "true" Mediterranean climate.

THE MASQUERADE

The Masquerade is an organized campaign enforced by the Camarilla to convince people that vampires do not exist. The Masquerade is the cornerstone survival strategy for Kindred, without it, the kine would rise up and exterminate all the undead.

Origin:
The Masquerade is technically outlined in the Traditions, however until the 15th century this was commonly interpreted as not informing mortals of the niceties of vampiric society, how common vampires were or generally making too big a noise. The Tradition was openly flouted by several clans, while the vampires in more civilized society would often adhere to it more tightly.

All of this changed with the Inquisition, following the Anarch Revolt, when the true number of vampires became apparent and Rome started to have at the undead igne ferroque, the nascent Camarilla was primarily organized around promulgating and strongly enforcing a Masquerade. History holds that Rafael de Corazon's famous speech in 1450 made enforcing the Masquerade the Camarilla's primary policy.

Operation:
The basics of the Masquerade are enforced through self-policing and harsh penalties. When a breach (colloquially, an "oops") occurs, the methods of repairing may vary, but somebody is going to be punished — and while it would be nice for that somebody to be whoever caused the breach in the first place, Princes are known to prefer an early morning dusting over a long thorough search.

Generally, a breach consists of any evidence of vampiric powers: feeding on blood, obvious use of Disciplines, regeneration in plain sight and the like. Certain things (such as ghouls) are considered potential breaches all the time; although in this case, its assumed that the domitor will take necessary steps.

Camarilla vampires are taught to blend in and to cultivate their Humanity in order to make imitating living people easier. However, when something severe happens, the Camarilla usually calls on the Ventrue, who have made Masquerade-patching something of a science. The Ventrue will apply whatever resources are necessary; cash, judicious use of Dominate, machine guns; to make the problem go away.

Traditions: The Traditions are the fundamental laws of Kindred society. The Traditions form the legal backbone of Camarilla society, although in modern nights, the Prince fulfills the Elder role outlined in the traditions. Most vampiric culture springs from the Traditions — presentation is outlined in the Tradition of Hospitality, the Blood Hunt in the Tradition of Destruction and the parceling of land in the Tradition of Domain.

Masquerade: Hide the existence of vampires.
Domain: A Kindred's hunting ground is his own territory, and he rules it absolutely.
Progeny: Sire only with permission of one's elders.
Accounting: Until childer are released, their actions are the responsibility of their sire.
Hospitality: Honor the domains of others, and present oneself to the ruler of any domain you visit.
Destruction: The right to kill Kindred is reserved for the Elder of a community. Only an Elder may call a Blood Hunt.

First Tradition: The Masquerade: Thou shall not reveal thy true nature to those not of the Blood. Doing such shall renounce thy claims of Blood.
Second Tradition: The Domain: Thy domain is thine own concern. All others owe thee respect while in it. None may challenge thy word while in thy domain.
Third Tradition: The Progeny: Thou shall only Sire another with the permission of thine Elder. If thou createst another without thine Elder's leave, both thou and thy Progeny shall be slain.
Fourth Tradition: The Accounting: Those thou create are thine own children. Until thy Progeny shall be Released, thou shall command them in all things. Their sins are thine to endure.
Fifth Tradition: The Hospitality: Honor one another's domain. When thou comest to a foreign city, thou shall present thyself to the one who ruleth there. Without the word of acceptance, thou art nothing.
Sixth Tradition: The Destruction: Thou art forbidden to destroy another of thy kind. The right of destruction belongeth only to thine Elder. Only the Eldest among thee shall call the Blood Hunt.

GENERATIONS

A generation describes how far removed a kindred or a vampire is from the original vampire. This means that the second generation was created by the original vampire, the third by the second, the fourth by the third and so forth.

Playable Generations:
New members cannot play any kindred or vampire below the tenth generation. Experienced members and staff cannot play any kindred below the sixth generation.

Non-playable:
First Generation: The first, original vampire.
Second Generation: The vampires sired by the original vampire. They were extremely powerful and passed down their powers to their childer.
Third Generation: The vampires sired by the second generation are all the founders of the clans. Most of the third generation are considered to be dead.
Fourth Generation: While still somewhat around, these powerful vampires are rarely seen anymore.
Fifth Generation: The fifth generation are old and powerful, and have much influence and most of them are lords of great power.

Note: The first, second and third generations are considered myths, as no kindred alive has ever laid eyes on either of them. The same goes for the fourth generation - Only higher ranked (and extremely old) kindred have ever met or seen anyone from the fourth generation, and even then, that's exceptionally rare.

Playable to staff and experienced members:
Sixth Generation: They are also very influential and powerful, having positions of great responsibility in the world of vampires.
Seventh Generation: The Elders, they are old vampires, both powerful and influential. Even though they are not as old or powerful as the third and fourth generation, they still hold much sway over the Kindred society.
Eight and Ninth Generation: While these vampires are pretty young, they're still strong and tend to sire many childer, in order to grow their influence and strength through numbers.

Playable to new members:
Tenth Generation: Young vampires who are usually rebellious against their elders, as they are searching for a path of their own in the eternal nights.
The Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Generations: Most of them are fledglings, new vampires. They are usually looked down upon because of their youth and the fact that they are prone to mistakes. They are usually just pawns for their elders, but some of them gained much respect in the Kindred society.
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Generations: The Thin Bloods whose blood is so diluted that they can barely be called vampires.

* Thin Blooded vampires are generally very young compared to most vampires. Most Thin Bloods aren't older than a few decades.

TERMS

Kindred: Kindred is the most common euphemism for a vampire. The term is most commonly used by vampires who strive to maintain their Humanity. Kindred use the term Kindred and kine to refer to all of humanity.

Vessel: A target for feeding.

Frenzy: Frenzy is a term describing a supernatural fight-or-flight reaction experienced by vampires. Frenzy occurs when the Beast takes over the vampire's personality, usually a result of extreme stress such as starvation, pain or public humiliation. The primary purpose of the frenzy is to kill or otherwise neutralize the stimulus responsible for inducing it, so a vampire driven to frenzy from hunger will attempt to feed on anything he/she can catch.

Torpor: Torpor is a state of deep sleep that a Vampire may enter, either voluntarily or as a result of lack of blood and/or damage received.

Final Death: A term vampires use to refer to permanent death.

The Beast: The Beast refers to the innate demonic predator that awakens in each and every vampire upon their Embrace. The Beast stands in direct opposition to a vampire’s Humanity.

Childe: A childe is used to refer to a vampire in relation to their Sire, the vampire who Embraced them. It can also be used to suggest that someone is behaving foolishly or is inexperienced.

Sire: A sire is a vampire that has Embraced a childe. The term is unisexual, applying to both male and female vampires. Alternatively, the term may apply to the Embrace itself. The sire has the responsibility of raising his childe to become a good vampire. A bad childe is a reason for others to look down on the sire.

Embrace: The act of a vampire draining and replacing a victim's blood, with a bit of their own, to pass the curse of vampirism to a mortal.

Regnant: To a Ghoul, the regnant is the vampire who regularly provide them with vampiric blood and is thus the source of their super human capabilities.

Caitiff: Caitiff, also called Clanless, are vampires who do not belong to any clan. The term is traditionally used by the Camarilla. While Caitiff are Embraced normally by existing clans and bloodlines across the gamut of Kindred existence, something seems to happen between sire and childe. Either certain defining traits are not passed along in the Embrace, or some manner of imprinting is missing. As a result, the childe inherits none of their sire's clan's Disciplines or weaknesses. They often only inherit the more common Disciplines.

Blood Hunt: A blood hunt is an order given by the prince of a city, calling for the Final Death of another Kindred. Such an order is usually given whenever a Kindred has committed a serious offense, such as kinslaying, diablerie, breaching the Masquerade, invasion of domain that has resulted in any of the above offenses, or any other behavior that a prince deems to be a sufficient threat to the safety of the Masquerade and the Kindred of the city as a whole.

Elysium: Elysium is neutral ground for the vampires of a city. In an Elysium, using Disciplines or firearms or any other violent behavior is prohibited and individuals are expected to keep tempers in check. Though Elysiums often serve as gathering places for Kindred, the Masquerade must normally be maintained at all times for any mortals that may be around.

Antediluvian: Antediluvian specifically refers to the Third Generation, from whom the clans are descended.

Caine: Caine, also known as Cain, is considered to be the first and most powerful vampire.

Gehenna: Gehenna is the Kindred eschaton. It is the time when the Antediluvians will rise from their slumbers and devour their descendants.

Prince: A vampire who has claimed leadership over a domain, usually a single city. The term 'prince' is used both for male and female. They possess the authority of an Elder as described in the Traditions. Generally, a prince is advised by a council of primogen, Elders representing each of the major clans of the Camarilla. The prince holds authority over unlife and Final Death by virtue of the Traditions. These rights traditionally include:

Allotting hunting grounds

Declaration or revocation of Elysium

Granting authority to sire new vampires

Punishment for violating the Traditions, mainly the Masquerade

Calling a Blood Hunt

The Sheriff: The prince's bodyguard, executioner and law enforcer.

Primogen: The primogen is the leader of his or her clan from a city. They are ambassadors from their clan to the prince of the said city.

Elders: The term Elder is used to denote the status of a vampire who has experienced at least 300 years of unlife. While there is no strict definition, one normally must be at least two centuries old, with appreciable claims to domain or a variety of other assets and far removed from their mortal past to qualify.

Scourge: Scourge is a term used to describe a vampire directly subordinated to a Prince. He or she is one of the muscles that a given Prince may call upon to do his or her bidding.