The Caitiff

Overview 

During Lodin’s reign, a surprisingly high number of clanless vampires emerged in the city, either through migration or Embrace within the city limits. The prevailing theory was that due to Lodin’s strict Embrace laws (except when it came to his own brood), vampires of other clans created childer and simply refused to formally adopt them, therefore creating a flurry of Caitiff.

The Caitiff of tonight lean heavily toward the Anarchs, resulting in Kevin Jackson pursuing a quiet campaign of elimination against the city’s clanless. Few of the infamous Caitiff of decades past remain in Chicago now, with only Maldavis to carry forward their memory. Nerissa Blackwater meanwhile stands aloof from the clanless, believing herself to be something entirely other than Kindred.

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The Kindred of Chicago remember the time a Caitiff nearly became Prince.  As Lodin's rule began to weaken, the Caitiff Maldavis initiated a revolt to seize the Princedom for herself.  When the Primogen Council convened to vote whether to support her seizure of Praxis, she lost by one vote, four against to three in favor. 

In the end, Lodin kept his Princedom but Maldavis survived his wrath long enough to see him topple from power anyway.  When he came to power, Prince Jackson remembered exactly how dangerous Maldavis was, but instead of attacking her directly he crushed her power base by destroying or driving away the large number of Caitiff who supported her.

Maldavis is still around, though, as one of the most powerful Anarchs in the city.  If Chicago is ever to have one single Anarch Baron to unify the Movement and stand up to the Camarilla, they will need her support.  After all, no low-blood lick in Chicago's ever gotten closer to the big brass ring than when she touched her fingertips to it.

The era of large numbers of Caitiff being churned out in Chicago seems to be over.  While Jackson still keeps a tight grip on the Third Tradition, he is not quite so brutal in punishing non-Ventrue who violate it as Lodin was.  Fewer orphans means fewer Caitiff, and Jackson prefers to defuse threats to his power before they ever begin, if possible.  Jackson tosses those Caitiff who do end up in the Camarilla's clutches to the Blood Disco, where he can claim they're well cared-for and out of his hair.  Caitiff who don't want to go to the Blood Disco or who dodge the Camarilla end up among the Anarchs, though they best step lightly; the Camarilla has little mercy for Anarchs to begin with, and less still for Anarch Caitiff.

The Camarilla: The Camarilla needs to project a certain glamour to its membership, a veneer of aristocracy where Kindred of Quality don't appear to be doing any work at all in the guts of the domain.  Enter the Caitiff.  The Camarilla detests its Orphans, but it also needs them - needs them to do the shittiest jobs in town as Hounds, Scourges, bush-beaters and leg-breakers, powerful enough to get the job done and expendible, so no one really cares if they meet their Final Death.  Why do any Caitiff bother?  Because the Camarilla might hold you down with one hand, but it's pragmatic enough to pay out with the other.  Every vampire needs things - money, blood, safe places to hunt and safe havens to spend the day in.  If a Caitiff is willing to deal with the public scorn, the private payouts given by the Ivory Tower just cannot be beat.  Chicago is noted as being an especially hard lot for Caitiff who try to join the Camarilla, since Prince Jackson won't let another Maldavis rise to threaten his Praxis.  At the same time, the Blood Disco is known as a true safe haven for Orphans within the Camarilla.

The Anarch Movement: Caitiff make good soldiers and have no organized political will to speak of in order to claim clout in most domains, so the Anarchs go looking for them.  It's a way to bulk up the ranks and show solidarity with almost zero investment, though some Anarchs do believe in the Liberty, Egality, Fraternity that they preach.  Anarch Caitiff usually do at least get the opportunity to make their case as to their individual worth, especially in Chicago where Maldavis is a powerful Mawla for many of them.  This makes the Chicago Anarchs particularly appealing to Caitiff looking for a place to prove their worth.

Caitiff SPCs of Note:

• Maldavis, the Caitiff who Would Be Prince

Lexicon:

Nufaya: Arabic, "Trash."  Term for the Caitiff used by the Ashirra.

Pander: A term once used by the Caitiff of the Sabbat.  Also a Sabbat political movement that advocated the renunciation of clan completely.  Has recently come into vogue for Caitiff who sell their clanless brethren out by serving as hatchet-men and scourges for the Camarilla, in a conflation of the old Sabbat sobriquet and the insult "Panderers".