The sects of Vampire: The Masquerade.

Every scene runs through one question: who could see, film or work it out. A breach is answered before the prince, often with death.

They grant domain, hunting rights and the right to Embrace, so everything that matters. Meeting them is a privilege, interesting them is a danger.

Six rules inherited from Caine, among them the Masquerade and the right of progeny. Mostly they serve as a legal tool for removing nuisances.

One representative per influential clan, advising the prince and protecting their own. This is where what cannot be said in Elysium gets negotiated.

Seneschal, sheriff, harpy and keeper of Elysium: four posts, four kinds of pressure. An unhappy harpy costs more than an angry sheriff.

Five founding clans, recently joined by the Banu Haqim and the Lasombra. The newcomers pay for their admission in unpleasant errands.

They hold a district as long as nobody topples them, which happens often. Authority there is local, concrete and revocable.

A thirteenth generation vampire can command an elder if they have the means. That is what makes the faction attractive to a young character.

A deal is a contract, and an unpaid debt is settled within the week. The boon system replaces the whole Camarilla procedure.

Nobody swears on the Traditions, yet everyone keeps the Masquerade. A camera kills an Anarch as fast as a Ventrue.

Brujah and Gangrel in numbers, but above all everyone the Camarilla refuses. Caitiff and thin bloods find there the only place open to them.

A war of districts, with no front and no treaty, resuming the moment a baron weakens. It supplies a permanent plot with no prep at all.

Muslim vampire courts, built around faith and hospitality. They offer an entire setting outside the western cities.

A few elders who left the game and refuse to come back. They work as background mystery, not as playable opponents.

Neither Camarilla nor Anarch, they survive by staying invisible. An autarkis character has no backing, which makes every night harder.

A Sabbat brotherhood whose loyalties were never clear. It reappears when a chronicle needs a faceless enemy.

Mortal agencies hunting through data rather than through faith. They turn one forgotten phone into a death sentence.

The religious branch of the hunt, far older than the state agencies. It has no budget and no cameras, but centuries of memory.

A Camarilla city and an Anarch city do not tell the same chronicle. Ask before you choose, it saves you an off topic character.

A Tremere among the Anarchs or a Brujah at court pays dearly for entry. It is playable, but it should be a choice, not an accident.

A coterie straddling both sides works very well in play. You simply have to write down what holds it together despite the war.

Boons are recorded, traded and called in at the worst moment. In both factions they are what keeps the plot turning.

The sect changes neither Hunger nor the Masquerade, only the authority that judges you. Prince or baron, the punishment lands the same way.

A character switching sides mid chronicle gives you one of the best scenes in the game. Set that possible betrayal up at creation.