Post by Tami on Feb 17, 2007 12:41:03 GMT -5
Organization of the sword of Caine
Although it would be difficult to discern from the outside, the Sabbat actually has a codified hierarchy. The sect has leader and followers, commanders and footsoldiers, like any other war effort.
Of course, the ‘war effort” is purely subjective to the sect. Sabbat do not spend every night in constant struggle with the camarilla vampires or the insidious Antedeluvians. In fact, to the untrained eye, very little exist to distinguish the Sabbat – controlled cities from those the Camarilla, apart from the higher crime rates, more missing person cases, greater urban human suffering and less hope for salvation. Then again, in the World of Darkness, these things exist in sliding scales. And what may be passable to one city’s Bishops may earn the final death in another.
The Sabbat is not ruled so much as it is led – even the regent and Cardinals do what they do out of devotion to the sect’s cause. Leadership among the sabbat, however is a precarious thing. Among the higher echelons, sabbat vampires tend to loose touch with the younger vampires who fight the battles nightly. At lower tiers of the hierarchy, a ductus’ or preist’s decisions sometimes carry more weight than those of a city’s archbishop or bishop. In the end, the sabbat’s fervent support of its cause proves its undoing, as the disorganization endemic to a sect sworn to uphold freedom prevents it from achieving consistent success.
Despite their seeming slavish devotion to the sect, members of the Sabbat are vampire first and foremost. Eternal, parasitic creatures, Sabbat vampires must deal with the same fears as the other Damned – witch-hunters, fellow Cainites, the mysterious other supernaturals who sometimes pass through cities and even members of “the masses” who catch on to a vampire’s depredations all conspire to end a Sabbat’s unlife as quickly as they would any other threat. Although they would never call it thus, the vampires of the sabbat support an unspoken Masquerade; the sect isn’t stupid, and its leaders know that there is no way to succeed if the sect collapses before establishing a way to fulfill its goals.
As such, the Sabbat has created a few ‘offices” to serve its best interests. These titles are artificial at best, though any vampire who has managed to acquire one certainly has the personal power or influence to back it up. Sabbat vampires, being passionate creatures they are, also harbor grudges as deeply as any camarilla harpy or anarch dissident – intra-sect politics are as murky as the camarilla’s, though the Sabbat pretends to be above such things (At least in front of others). Vampires at various levels of the power structure invariably owe some fellow Sabbat favors, harbor vendettas toward others and manipulate all the resources at their disposal toward making things difficult for their foes while gaining ( or erasing) debts sworn by (or to) others. It is even said the recent upheaval wrought by the Inquisition (see info on the Inquisition) in Montreal is the direct result of one vampire trying to play too many factions off each other – a consequence any Cainite familiar with the workings of the camarilla has seen innumerable times.
That said, the Sabbat has pulled itself up by its bootstraps, leading a campaign of conquest unheard of since the colonization of the New World. Recent crusades in Miami, Atlanta and Atlantic City have turned the tide of the Sabbat’s war effort on the East Coast of the United States, while relatively bloodless seizures of power in Washington DC and parts of Europe prove the Sabbat is as capable with intrigue and guerrilla tactics. Conservative members of the sect warn against resting on their laurels, however, arguing that “compliancy has lost more than one war.” More often than not, Sabbat crusades fail, even as early as the scouting stages, because lines of communication and duty break down, leaving the sect unable to improve its lot.
To delineate responsibilities, the Sabbat has created for itself a rough organization. In theory, this organization provides as strong leadership, as skilled vampires claw and plot their way to prominence. In practice, however, the model breaks down, as elder vampires demand anachronistic subservience from the cainites below them, and younger vampires rebel openly against the leaders who should be establishing coups rather than plotting against each other like depraved Lick of the camarilla. The Sabbat is perhaps its own greatest enemy, with many of its battles fought in the hearts and minds of sect members.
(Guide to the Sabbat pp29-31)
Although it would be difficult to discern from the outside, the Sabbat actually has a codified hierarchy. The sect has leader and followers, commanders and footsoldiers, like any other war effort.
Of course, the ‘war effort” is purely subjective to the sect. Sabbat do not spend every night in constant struggle with the camarilla vampires or the insidious Antedeluvians. In fact, to the untrained eye, very little exist to distinguish the Sabbat – controlled cities from those the Camarilla, apart from the higher crime rates, more missing person cases, greater urban human suffering and less hope for salvation. Then again, in the World of Darkness, these things exist in sliding scales. And what may be passable to one city’s Bishops may earn the final death in another.
The Sabbat is not ruled so much as it is led – even the regent and Cardinals do what they do out of devotion to the sect’s cause. Leadership among the sabbat, however is a precarious thing. Among the higher echelons, sabbat vampires tend to loose touch with the younger vampires who fight the battles nightly. At lower tiers of the hierarchy, a ductus’ or preist’s decisions sometimes carry more weight than those of a city’s archbishop or bishop. In the end, the sabbat’s fervent support of its cause proves its undoing, as the disorganization endemic to a sect sworn to uphold freedom prevents it from achieving consistent success.
Despite their seeming slavish devotion to the sect, members of the Sabbat are vampire first and foremost. Eternal, parasitic creatures, Sabbat vampires must deal with the same fears as the other Damned – witch-hunters, fellow Cainites, the mysterious other supernaturals who sometimes pass through cities and even members of “the masses” who catch on to a vampire’s depredations all conspire to end a Sabbat’s unlife as quickly as they would any other threat. Although they would never call it thus, the vampires of the sabbat support an unspoken Masquerade; the sect isn’t stupid, and its leaders know that there is no way to succeed if the sect collapses before establishing a way to fulfill its goals.
As such, the Sabbat has created a few ‘offices” to serve its best interests. These titles are artificial at best, though any vampire who has managed to acquire one certainly has the personal power or influence to back it up. Sabbat vampires, being passionate creatures they are, also harbor grudges as deeply as any camarilla harpy or anarch dissident – intra-sect politics are as murky as the camarilla’s, though the Sabbat pretends to be above such things (At least in front of others). Vampires at various levels of the power structure invariably owe some fellow Sabbat favors, harbor vendettas toward others and manipulate all the resources at their disposal toward making things difficult for their foes while gaining ( or erasing) debts sworn by (or to) others. It is even said the recent upheaval wrought by the Inquisition (see info on the Inquisition) in Montreal is the direct result of one vampire trying to play too many factions off each other – a consequence any Cainite familiar with the workings of the camarilla has seen innumerable times.
That said, the Sabbat has pulled itself up by its bootstraps, leading a campaign of conquest unheard of since the colonization of the New World. Recent crusades in Miami, Atlanta and Atlantic City have turned the tide of the Sabbat’s war effort on the East Coast of the United States, while relatively bloodless seizures of power in Washington DC and parts of Europe prove the Sabbat is as capable with intrigue and guerrilla tactics. Conservative members of the sect warn against resting on their laurels, however, arguing that “compliancy has lost more than one war.” More often than not, Sabbat crusades fail, even as early as the scouting stages, because lines of communication and duty break down, leaving the sect unable to improve its lot.
To delineate responsibilities, the Sabbat has created for itself a rough organization. In theory, this organization provides as strong leadership, as skilled vampires claw and plot their way to prominence. In practice, however, the model breaks down, as elder vampires demand anachronistic subservience from the cainites below them, and younger vampires rebel openly against the leaders who should be establishing coups rather than plotting against each other like depraved Lick of the camarilla. The Sabbat is perhaps its own greatest enemy, with many of its battles fought in the hearts and minds of sect members.
(Guide to the Sabbat pp29-31)