Sabbat Packs

[Tami]

This is taken again in abridged version of what can be found in the guide books for the game)


A Pack is a small group of vampires, the basic unit of structure for the Sabbat sect. They can serve both military and social functions of the sect.

All memebers of the Sabbat, even the leaders are members of a pack, though they may leave it during their reign. If they do, however, they must return to it after their term. The only real exception to this is if the pack itself no longer exists.

A newly embraced Sabbat has no choice over which pack he or she is a member in, as they are" born" into whichever pack their sire was in at the time of Embrace. They must remain in this pack until all others in the pack have been destroyed or an archbishop gives permission for that vampire to form a new pack. Anyone wishing to form a new pack, must of course have at least three other experienced Sabbat willing to join it.

There are two types of packs, referred to as "nomadic" and "founded" (city). These packs are both considered equal, though the founded packs are far more common.

Nomadic packs tend to travel from city to city, having no set haven to call their own. They go as they please, but are often useful in seiges of cities or paticipating in War Parties against Inconnu and Camarilla. When they do enter a city, they often stay at the communal haven or somewhere a bit more to themselves. They always alert the archbishop to their arrival as well as the founded Sabbat. They will usually participate in the Vaulderie with these other packs as a measure of mutual respect if asked. Nomadic packs are most useful in the reconquest of cities.

Founded packs maintain their own communal havens on a permanent basis, traveling at times, but always make one city their home base. These help to preserve the sect in the more urban areas, mainly be acting more as a defense than an offense against attacks by the Camarilla. They work to carry out the orders of the archbishops and bishops for the sect. There are often times several of these packs within a city.

All Packs tend to meet on a weekly basis to discuss new orders and business.


Inside a Sabbat pack-

The Sabbat provides protection, freedom and loyalty to every one of it's members, but these gifts are not free. Memebers are required to protect interests of the sect and act in it's best interest, and of course giving it loyalty and devotion in return. This is most easily expressed in packs.

The pack fills two imprtant roles for the Sabbat, first and foremost, as as a combat function. A pack is small enough to be easily led, but large enough to be highly effective. As before stated Founded packs take the defensive position, while Nomadic take the offensive, sometimes even seiging cities. Both are known for cunning and flashy combat strategies.

The second, but no less important, is to serve as a social group for the individual Sabbat. Packs will most often have their own set traditions, and work to have close ties with all of their members, usually by creating pack specific rituals. A pack is essentially a Sabbat's family, their loyalty for the pack only being shadowed by the more important loyalty to the entire sect. There are two main positions in every pack, the ductus and the priest.


Ductus: The leader of a Sabbat pack. This title is a highly subjective one, sometimes held by the meanest or most brutal in a pack while acquired through genuine merit or ritual combat at other times. The ductus decides the logistical affairs of his/her pack, though the wise ductus gives careful ear to his/her pack mates' voices.

Priest: The priest of the pack handles the rituals and is a highly respected memeber of the pack. It is he or she who conducts the Vaulderie, and the scred rituals of Ritae.

[Tami]

Sabbat Packs

Pack Life

Turnover
Active packs tend to have a very high turnover of members, but it tends to be the newer members most of the time. Those who have not gone through the creation rights are obviously disposable but even those who have but have not been with the pack long are likely to meet death more quickly than long time members. This comes from a combination of factors. Firstly other Sabbat in the pack are likely to have a lower vinculum rating towards them and so are less likely to risk themselves to help them and more likely to put them in dangerous situations. Secondly as younger vampires they often lack the skills, either mundane or supernatural, to survive as well as their more experienced pack mates.

Turnover tends to be highest in nomad packs as they usually take the greatest risks. Founded packs in contested cities can also rise to quite high levels. New members of these packs are likely to have very short life expectancies and older members are likely to be rather reluctant to developing much of a relationship with them until they have managed to last a while. The usual exception is the neonates sire, particular if they selected them carefully and it was not just part of a mass embrace. Although other vampires in the pack may mentor or befriend them if they think they have potential, or even just like them, they will usually wait a little while before getting too close.

Packs that are in relatively well held Sabbat cities have of course the lowest turnover. Most vampires making it past their creation rites will not have any immediate threats and the best chances of survival in the short term. They will also be quite rare as the vampires in a city, particularly the senior ones, will be reluctant to let the population expand too much. Such vampires are also relatively untested and more likely to fall when faced with a real threat.

New Members
If they survive creation rites and then being killed in the first few months new Sabbat face the daunting task of finding their place within the pack, one that has an established set of relationships that are further confused by they varying vaulderie strengths amongst the packs members.

Chosen member often are the most easily accepted by the pack, as they have been carefully picked before hand by their Sire's. Usually they have some quality or skill that is useful to the pack which is the reason for them being chosen. The downside is that as much is expected of them they usually are under a lot of pressure. If they do not live up to the expectations, particularly of their Sire, they may have to deal with a lot of resentment.

Chance members come from a mass embrace, usually selected on no criteria other than they were handy to grab and drain at the time some cannon fodder was needed. Given the harshest of Creation Rites and thrown at the enemy expecting to be destroyed these members that have survived are either tough or lucky. These vampires are, however, vital to the Sabbat as they bring in great diversity of as people who no vampire would have chosen to embrace but nevertheless can make it

Placed members are sired by someone outside the pack, usually an Elder. While it is possible for a vampire to bring up their childer themselves such 'babied' vampires are often held in contempt by most Sabbat. Consequently they are usually put into a pack The way a pack regards such a vampire will depend a lot on the members relationship with the Sire. The new vampire's membership could be seen as anything from an honour to a burden.

Joining members are Sabbat coming from elsewhere. They are either leaving one pack to join another or their own pack has been destroyed or disbanded and they are becoming part of an existing one. Generally much more experienced than other new members they can bring a fresh perspective to a pack as well a high level of skill and knowledge. Sometimes thought they have trouble adapting to their new packs ways of doing things and may bring old enemies and feuds with them.

Relationships
Its often said that the bonds of the pack are the glue that keeps the Sabbat together, and in many ways that is true. It is a unique social structure that no other vampire society has. While the sect as a whole has just as much internal conflict and backstabbing as any other, within individual packs it tends to be much lower than in Camarilla and some independent coteries.

While it is not necessary for all members of a pack to like each other they do need to be able to work together, packs where this fails to happen usually don't survive. When a pack is lucky enough to still be around after a member has let another down then they usually take some very harsh action indeed against them. If they survive the lesson they are unlikely to repeat their mistake, doing so almost always results in final death. Most Sabbat know their pack mates very well and have some degree of mutual respect and feel that they can rely on them for help when they need it.

While the Sire - Childer relationship is usually the dominant one for many licks, particularly in their early years of unlife, it is rather less important in the Sabbat. Pack members tend to bond most closely with those at the same 'level' within the pack, new licks are often rather in awe of experienced members who also tend to hole the senior positions. They also tend to be the least human and the hardest for new members to understand. From the other side the older vampires have been around each other for a while so they know, if not always like, each other very well and have had time for their vinculum ratings to grow. They may well also know from experience that the newer members might not be around all that long.

The main exception is mentor relationships. While these happen most often between Sire and Childer it is far from exclusive. Indeed a new vampire might have several mentors in the pack teaching them different things such as combat, disciplines or the way of a Path. The latter is by far the most intensive and usually forms the closest bond, Path followers in a pack are usually instructed by another pack mate and the long and intense tutoring coupled with the shared view of a similar philosophy tends to make followers of the same Path within a pack very close.

The more time any two Sabbat spend in the same pack together the closer they generally become. That does not mean they like each other more, but they will understand each other more. Partly the bond comes from the vinculum and the long succession of shared vaulderies. Largely though this is simply due to normal psychological factors. The two vampires will be spending a lot of time together, frequently experiencing dangerous situations together and shared experience, particularly when under threat, frequently forges close bonds. The more a pack member knows another the easier it becomes to know what they are thinking and feeling, to read their expressions and body language or just simply know from experience what they will do in a given situation.

For some long established packs they can become almost like one entity at times when they swing into action. Each members knows with little or no communication what to do and what their fellows will do. This can be particularly disconcerting for outsiders, or new members, as the pack can go from an apparently unorganised rabble possibly even arguing amongst itself, to a finely tuned machine in moments.

Long time pack members often actually speak rather little to each other. Often they have nothing new to say, and what does need to be communicated can be done very quickly with just a few words and an expression. If left to themselves whole packs like this would be in danger of stagnating. Fortunately, if such a term can be used, the life expectancy of even experienced Sabbat foot soldiers is not that great and pack usually find themselves bring in new blood that invigorates the pack and shifts the dynamics.

Some packs have deeply abusive relationships. While sometimes this is consensual (see below) other times there is a pecking order with each vampire taking abuse from the one above and dishing it out to the one below. Such packs are rarely very stable though, as too much abuse can cause betrayal or the vampire to flee and too little will not retain the fear needed to keep control. Leaders who maintain power be overt terror and thuggery are given little respect in the Sabbat and usually fall to Monomancy rather quickly.

More common abuse in packs happens when they have a pack 'pet' sometimes also known as a gimp amongst Sabbat. Sometimes the vampire has totally lost it to derangements or the beast, and the others treat them as an animal. They rarely contribute to the vaulderie and are often kept locked up or otherwise constrained, brought out only when the pack wants to have some fun or terrorise an opponent.

Love
This is a good place to disabuse some notions vampires and love. It is sometimes felt that love is one of the 'finer' emotions and that the bad guys, which covers vampires in general and Sabbat in particular, are therefore not capable of it. While its comforting to think that love is a good thing and only something that happens amounts good people this just is not the case.

Despite some Hollywood ideas love is not in and of itself inherently good, noble or redemptive. Although it can inspire and individual to such actions it can also drive them to commit horrors. How many murders are done in the name of love? Perhaps more disturbing its perfectly possible to have very genuine affection, caring and love for one being without it ever extending to others. A person, vampire or otherwise, can brutally torture and murder another feeling nothing, or even joy, then go home to a loved one.

Sabbat in love tend to go one of two ways, although obviously when talking about such deeply personal feelings these can be nothing but generalisations. The first way is typically the 'human' way, that is the two licks not only genuinely care about each other but show genuine affection for one another. Of course they may well still argue, fight, disagree and do all the things humans in love do. Where they tend to differ is how they show their love. They may feed and kill together, bring each other gifts of victims or enemies and generally be every bit unpleasant towards others and any 'normal' vampire.

The second way is rather more disturbing and is usually followed by older Sabbat on Paths. The two vampires are still in love, but the way they show it is more vampiric than human. The exact nature will depend a lot on the Paths of those involved. Those on the Path of Lillith or Cathari may well torture their partner in ways that only a vampiric body can endure. Followers of Honourable Accord may woo them in something resembling medieval courtly love. Follows of Feral Heart and Harmony are often deeply passionate about their lovers but rather animalistic in how they express it, not for them many discussions about where this relationship is going.

Clearly some Paths like Scorched Heart or Night are ill suited to such relationships, followers might even be forced to make a hard choice and risk loosing Path rating if they continue with a relationship that they have genuine feelings for. As countless humans know however, putting aside unwanted emotions for another is no easy task.

[Tami]

Ghouls
Most packs a leery of any Ghouls with communal duties being blood bound to one member. Any Ghouls that guards a communal haven isn't likely to be trusted to one vampire. Even if the lick can keep the pathetic creature inline then it might still end up hurting a vampire during the day out of its misplaced devotion if said vampire had rowed with its Domitor. Instead such Ghouls are usually bound to the whole pack and regarded as communal property. While this means that the get badly treated by all the members, they are usually only killed by the Ductus or priest if they have stepped out of line.

Heritage and Identity
Many packs have been in existence far longer than any individual surviving members. They maintain a sense of heritage and group identity however, often something like the warped idea of the Marine Core where a Marine may die, but the Core will go on. Likewise the pack will endure, and it will stay together by preserving its heritage and identity.

Slang is one way of preserving these. Rarely done deliberately most packs simply evolve their own unique slang over time due to the fact they do not spend much time with anyone else. Founded packs in a city may share some slang with each other, but will likely still have their own words. Along with slang is shared experience and even jokes. Think of any tight group of friends bursting into laughter when someone just says the beginning of a story that they all know well. Of course they Sabbat story may be about the time the witch-hunter with the flame thrower set light to himself, but it is the same principle.

Colours or uniforms are another. While almost no packs issue formal uniforms may adopt a similar style of clothing. Nomad packs often go for a biker gang style look complete with their pack colours. Likewise founded packs in the poorer areas of cities often look like urban gangs. Other are more subtle, in some its not so much uniform as fashion, may be high society chic is in this year for the pack, maybe next year they will all be looking preppy or whatever else takes their fancy. Such fashions are normally driven by the more influential and respected members of the pack.

History is also important. Many packs have an ignoblis ritae called Memorial Day where the Priest or Ductus recites the great members of the pack, their famous accomplishments. Old victories, and betrayals, are told to the newer members and repeated for the older ones so that they never forget. While this keeps a strong bond it also means rivalries between packs are often kept alive long after any of the vampires who actually started it.

Communal places and items give the pack a sense of shared importance in something. Places are usually communal havens, but might also be locations where they perform certain important ritae or simply hang out together. Nomad packs usually lack places, although their may be locations they return to on certain dates or for certain ritae. More likely roving packs have certain objects that they value highly, often those that are used in their ritae. Some packs keep relics, items that belonged to former members that are now deceased. If the relic is a functional item such as a weapon it may be taken out on rare occasions to be used.

Life of a Pack

Birth
Packs can come into being in a number of ways. Sometimes a pack splits either amicably or otherwise. It might simply have become too large or unwieldy,

Death
Death of individual members is the most common reason for a pack to come to an end. Obviously if every member is slain then the pack is finished, but usually that is not necessary. If one or two key members, usually the priest and/or Ductus, holds the pack together then their death can cause it to disintegrate. If all the members with any rituals knowledge are slain then the pack will not be able to perform ritae and is probably finished.

Sometime the end is more prosaic, the members decide that for whatever reason they can no longer work together. Perhaps philosophical, political or personal differences are too much for even the vinculum to overcome. Leaders who throw their weight around too much or are simply incompetent are likely to find followers departing if they cannot oust them.

Pack Types
Sabbat packs are at their core a group of individuals. Consequently no list of types will be complete and few packs will fit neatly into any categories. Packs may be in none, one or several categories, and may well find themselves changing over time.

Cult of Personality
This is pack that basically revolves around and is held together by one powerful member frequently older than the others, usually the Ductus although sometimes the priest. Such packs are usually pretty efficient at obeying the controlling member's orders although there may well be a degree of backstabbing to win favours. Life in them is all about who is the most liked at the moment by the leader and what can be done to please them.

Generally they disintegrate upon the death of the central personality although some carry on frequently over time elevating the deceased so the status of some kind of vampiric messiah who will return again at Gehenna to rewards his loyal followers.

Religious Pack
A religious pack is perhaps something of a misnomer, it is a pack where all of the regular members are followers of the same Path. That is not to say that all members are actually on the path, it takes time to indoctrinate new recruits, and indeed such packs often have immensely high turnovers amongst the newly embraced. Many vampires just can't cope with the discipline and dedication of a Path and fall to the beast. Even when they can there is no guarantee that the Path the pack follows will work for them. The Sabbat has found the hard way that it is much better for the vampire to find the Path than the Path to find the vampire. Members of such packs tend to either over compensate by embracing a lot, or choosing new recruits very carefully after much observation of their mortal lives.

These packs have other problems, without more 'normal' Sabbat to interact with regularly they tend to quickly lose grasp of the mortal world and often rapidly descend into more and more extremist positions and beliefs. While some argue endlessly the more esoteric parts of their Paths, other embark on religious crusades, devote their lives to meditation or contemplation or perform some action totally unfathomable to outsiders. Such packs are often warily regarded by other Sabbat who have little understanding of their actions or motivations although their drive and dedication is often respected.

Political Pack
Like the religious pack this group is brought together by a common ideology. Although sometimes they just evolve out of normal packs as members come around to a certain way of thinking and new recruits get indoctrinated into it they are more often the result of like-minded Sabbat deciding that they will team up to pursue a particular set of political goals. These groups tend to be on the more extreme fridges of the Sabbat politics, either die-hard Loyalists or hard-core Ultra-Conservatives, its hard to forcefully pursue moderate policies.

Political packs often contain the oldest Sabbat members that are still in packs, as they find these alliances useful to continue to advance their cause, and often themselves. A pack that contains several Ancilla or even Elders can become a real political force within the Sect able to exert more political influence than the sum of its parts.

Servitor Pack
A pack such of this often draws scorn from other Sabbat, although rarely to their faces. Most often found in cities as a founded pack they are effectively the servants of a single more powerful vampire that is outside the pack, usually a local Bishop or Archbishop. The pack gets the advantage of a mentor with experience and the elder gets some useful pawns.. er allies to help secure their power.

Depending on the relative power levels the packs attitude might be outright servitude or closer to a deal between to equals. Likewise the Elder might control them through outright commands and threats or subtle manipulation. Given the Sabbat's supposed equality the senior vampire will usually at least make a show of phrasing his orders as requests even if everyone is aware of the true nature of the relationship.

Objective Pack
This is a pack that is not intended to last for the long term, but instead is assembled to perform a specific duty or achieve a certain goal. Black Hand packs are the most common example as their members are drawn from Hand members in other packs and put together to complete a mission. Other packs are formed for many reasons, to hunt down an elder, root out an Infernalist, find a piece of Noddist Lore, spy on a Camarilla city or any one of a number of other reasons. Sometime a senior Sabbat gets the group together, other times no outsider is involved and the Sabbat simply agree on a common goal or cause.

Such groups usually break up after they have finished their intended task, but sometimes the members decide that they work well together and like each others company enough to stay as a pack

Brood
Otherwise known as a family pack or by the colloquial "Adams" or "Manson" (as in family) amongst the Sabbat this is a pack all descended from a single vampire, although possibly through several generations. Such packs are also often either servitors if the ancestor is not a member or cult's of personality if they are. Such groups are usually very tightly knit indeed owing far more loyalty to each other than the Sabbat and usually are somewhat wary of outsiders. Their ritae are often so different from those other Sabbat practise that they are unrecognisable. These packs are especially common among the smaller bloodlines.

Even more insular and bizarre are Revenant Broods. Someone embraces Uncle Billy, who decided to share the Gift it with some of the family. Related by blood (frequently rather too many times) both before and after being turned such a pack is unbelievably tightly tied together into a truly freakish and dysfunctional family. Such groups usually put their own family agendas way before any sect loyalties.

Hell-raiser Pack
Exclusively Nomad these packs are responsible for a large part of the Sabbat's negative publicity outside of the sect. They are little more than travelling bands of thugs, high on their vampiric power and superiority over mortals and using it to just have a good time. For them that usually involves killings people, blowing shit up, wrecking stuff and playing the most violent and over the top Sabbat games.

Given their high profile they are often what other vampires think of when the Sabbat's name is mentioned. They are also often distrusted within the Sect itself. More careful packs resent their careless attitudes, particularly founded packs if the hell-raisers decide to pass through their city. Other nomads also dislike them as they have a habit of aggressively challenging other packs to stupid and violent competitions. More experienced Sabbat Elders usually try to steer them towards Camarilla cities and territory, particularly in times of warfare as they are eminently expendable.

These groups usually claim to be Loyalists and that their actions are those of true Sabbat embodying the Sect's belief in freedom and vampiric superiority. This is usually just hot air and an excuse to continue their wild ride. Such rides tend not to last too long, not only do they have a high turnover of individuals but whole packs as sooner or later they run into Lupines, Camarilla, hunters or some other foe and go out in some blaze of glory.

War Packs
More focused and disciplined than hell-raisers, these packs live to fight, travelling from siege to siege to take part in the combat. Unlike many packs fighting they stake no claim to territory if the Sabbat wins, the thrill of battle and victory is enough for them. Of course vampire 'warfare' covers many things other than physical combat and members of a war pack may have a surprisingly wide range of skill and tactics, although most can handle themselves physically if it becomes necessary.