章 8: The American Vampire Society

The American vampire society is divided into dozens of large factions and countless small to medium-sized ones. Below are the officially recognized faction types.

- Cabal: A small group with no formal affiliation (< 50 members)

- Family: Members with the same family name (must have at least 20 members)

- Clan: 3 or more families (often affiliated by marriage).

- Guild: 3 or more clans.

- Covenant: 3 or more guilds; 9 or more clans.

For each officially recognized faction, there are at least 2 "unofficial" ones. For example, cabals that are large and powerful enough may declare themselves Clans or even Guilds. Even if they are not officially recognized, factions that need their assistance still deal with them under the table.

Vampires factions are often in a subtle, but constant state of conflict, fueled by the differences in their policies regarding… well, everything.

- Treatments of "pure" (i.e both parents are pure vampires) and "non-pure" (i.e half-breeds, two-thirds, three-quarters, etc) vampires, their origin ("born" or "made"). Some faction are "pure" vampires only, others are "made" vampires only, the rest are in-between.

- Treatments of humans. Some factions consider them a necessity. Others view them with the same attitude reserved for livestock. Others, surprisingly, view themselves as humans. Also, arguments are made about whether the vampire society should keep their existence a secret, secretly seize control or outright declare war on humans.

- Treatments of vampires with defects or less-than-impressive abilities. More elitist factions outright reject these low-level vampires. On the other hand, there are countless cabals made out of these rejects.

- Treatments of "nomad" vampires, who are not openly affiliated with any factions. Some might try to rope these members into their ranks, while others view them as a dangerous wildcard.

- Treatments of other post-human beings.

The politics of the vampire world is, to say the least, a mess. An individual can be tied to different factions. For example, take a half-vampire. His biological family might belong to one faction, but he was "made" (turned into a full vampire) by someone from another faction, and his personal belief and opinion might sway him to yet another. One family might belong to clan A, which belong to guild B but might secretly work for guild C or covenant D to further their personal agenda.

Coups, assassinations, back-stabbings are commonplace. The question is not *whether* one will be betrayed, but *when*. Every faction operates under that assumption.