The Independent

Human beings in a mob

What's a mob to a king?

What's a king to a God?

What's a God to a non-believer

Who don't believe in anything?

Will he make it out alive?

Alright, alright

No church in the wild

Jay-Z and Ye - No Church in the Wild

Which Side Are You On?

The Hecata are both old and new players, a co-mingling of different bloodlines from disparate sources into a new Clan of Death, one which keeps its own council and swears no allegiances, at least for now.

The Tzimisce favor the Anarchs, but that is because the Old Clan are as fiercely independent as ever, and joining the Camarilla would require supplication to the Ventrue and co-habitation with the Tremere. The Lasombra might be willing to grit their teeth and bear such humiliation as a clan, but the Draculs never will.

The Ravnos and Salubri are burnt-out lineages, depleted and despised as thieves and diabolists, though at their nadir both of these lineages find new hope; the Ashirra have always known the Tremere lied about the Trusted Ones, and as they ally with the Camarilla they bring the truth about the Salubri with them - if anyone cares to listen. In the Anarchs, the Old Clan maintains their promise to give the Cyclopes sanctuary - if they're brave enough to ask for it. As the Tremere fall from power, more and more Kindred are willing to defy the Warlocks openly, including giving succor to their enemies. Even the Tremere themselves are not of one voice on the subject of the Cyclopes - not anymore. The Ravnos find that even as their blood burns with restless fire, the curse of depravity that once twisted the clan has been burned away and replaced with a reckless courage, the kind of courage that can get a Kindred killed - or turn them into the closest thing the Jyhad will ever have to a hero.

Outside of the sects a number of independent blood cults and other factions also exist as havens, of a sort. The Church of Caine preaches the Gospel of the Dark Father unburdened by the Sabbat's manipulative ecclesiarchs and without its apocalyptic drive, but even now, many Kindred shun the "Cainite Heresy" - Prince Jackson forbids all Ventrue from practicing Caine-Worship on pain of being blood hunted. The Serpents of the Light claim to have shed the Sabbat and the Ministry the way a snake sheds its skin, though they remain as ambitious as they are mystical.

The House of Lilith stands both within and outside of the sects; membership in the Blood Disco is tolerated within the Camarilla, but Lilith's Garden is open to all who would come there to learn the ways of the Dark Mother. However, to truly join with the Bahari is to engage in painful, unsettling rites and fraternize with Caitiff trash. Many members of the Camarilla come for the parties, but they shy away from the extremes of the Bahari religion - and who can worship Lilith with but half their heart?