An understanding of the operation of the Camarilla, the dominant international organization providing structure for vampire social life, is integral to the popular role-playing game , Vampire: The Masquerade (and the card-game variation called Vampire: The Eternal Struggle), created by Mark Rein-Hagen in 1991. According to the myth of Vampire: The Masquerade the Camarilla was founded in the fifteenth-century in reaction to the Inquisition which threatened the very survival of "the Kindred," a separate species of vampire in ancient times. According to the myth of the game, vampires originated with Caine, the biblical character who slew his brother Abel and was cursed with immortal life and the blood thirst. After wandering in the wilderness for many years, he once again lived among mortals and created a city and progeny, a small number of vampires who carry the "curse." The city was destroyed, and the later generations scattered to appear periodically as a secret force in history. The bulk of the presently existing vampires constitute the sixth and later generations, and they face pressure to create no more vampires as it is believed that the blood thins (the vampiric powers diminish) as each generation from Caine is created.
Beginning in 1435, the Inquisition was able to arrest and kill many of the Kindred. It stamped out whole bloodlines and put them to the true death in the fire. This period of attack drove the vampire community, which had lived somewhat openly on the edge of human society, completely underground. In 1486 at a global convocation, a secret worldwide network was established and named for the small secret rooms in which meetings were held. It established the law of the Masquerade, the attempt to convince the world that either all vampires were dead or, better still, never existed. The Masquerade demanded that all vampires make a reasonable effort at secrecy. Then, as a group the vampire community initiated effort to convince the world that they had never existed.
The accumulated wisdom of the near immortal vampires was turned over to intelligent mortals who then turned their attention to the development of science and the suppression of superstition. In that process the early belief in vampires was crushed. The Masquerade, however, is currently threatened by the mysticism which has arisen through a combination of forces-psychedelic drugs, the new music , and the establishment of the vampire image in popular culture. Those affected by the new mysticism are ready to believe in the existence of vampires. There is also a generation gap between those vampires who created the Masquerade and understand its necessity and those created in the last century whose brashness is seen by the elders as calling unwelcome attention to the vampire community.
The Camarilla is composed of the vampires from seven major bloodlines or clans , membership in a clan being defined by the lineage of the one who transformed the person into the Kindred. The seven clans who compose the Camarilla are the Brujah, the Gangrel , the Malkavian, the Nosferatu, the Toreador, the Tremere and the Ventrue. In eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, the power of the Camarilla is challenged by the Sabbat. Like the Camarilla, it includes members from a variety of clans, most prominently the Lasomba and the Tzimisce. Unlike the Camarilla which rules by political action, the Sabbat tends to prize brute force and rules by fear and physical violence.
In ancient times, vampires lived rather openly at the edge of human society. During the last 500 years, however, they have moved incognito through the world of mortals much as a hunter moves in the forest of the beasts. The worldwide vampire society exists as a relatively small parallel society beside that of mortals and largely apart from their awareness of it. Largely urban, vampire communities exist in most of the major cities of the world. The size of any given local vampire community can roughly be estimated on a 100,000 (mortals) to one (vampire) ratio. Vampires in each city structure their life in various ways, but one common pattern is to form around a strong man, a prince. In any case, vampires who enter a new city have to present themselves to the powers that are established there. To simply begin hunting is considered a violation of the vampiric order.
The Camarilla is also the name of the club formed in the mid-1990s by players of Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. Members of the club join a clan and create a vampire persona which is lived out in club activities, such as gaming sessions. The club emphasizes member participation and encourages new members to become active in a local chapter or even begin one themselves. Chapters are often involved in raising money for local charities or hosting blood drives, etc. Community service is emphasized as much as role playing.
The Camarilla is headed by a governing board, referred to as the Inner Circle. Each of the primary clans is represented on the board. In each city there is a city coordinator (referred to as the prince), chapter coordinators and their assistants (elders and regents), and the gaming referee (the city storyteller). This helps keep the real world and the game world separate. Chapters must have at least five members to receive a charter, and is first termed a "coterie." After six months of activity that includes the sponsoring of gaming sessions and some additional self-chosen task (the publication of a fanzine, organization of a special event, etc.), it can be designated as a "house," an honored position in the city.
Individual members receive the membership handbook, The Tome of the Kindred (which explains the club's organization) and the club's quarterly fanzine, Requiem plus a host of other materials. The Camarilla may be contacted at PO Box 37974, Salt Lake City, UT 94127-0974.. Berry, Jeff. Alien Hunger. Stone Mountain, GA: White Wolf Game Studio. 64 pp.
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