Introduction
Introduction Societies in decline have no use for visionaries.
— Anaïs Nin Embraced into the War of Ages, the Anarchs are those vampires with the bottle to take what’s theirs, or at least to raise the issue of the Jyhad’s inequity in the halls of the Princes, Archbishops, and other tyrants who build personal empires on the backs of their subjects.
Filthy to the last, the Anarchs are a truculent rabble who fail to understand that power equals privilege among the Damned, and their ceaseless agitation to be given what they haven’t earned makes them an adolescent blight upon otherwise stable domains.
The Anarchs are cagey guerrillas in a conflict they inherited from those who dragged them into damnation, but they retain the wits to turn the tools of the modern world against elders still dancing to a symphony centuries dead. Computers, subcultures, and wars of ideas are the weapons of the modern Anarch, because the other sects are too stupid to realize their potential.
The Anarchs have respect neither for tradition nor the Traditions, and they exult in the vulgar fads and fashions of the kine, keeping the company of mortals and using their technological toys to cheapen the long and distinguished history of the race of Caine. They are charlatans and demagogues, peddling a cheap philosophy of equality when the very nature of the Blood demonstrates the falsity of their wishes.
ANARCHS UNBOUND The Anarchs are all of these things and more, forcing a reluctant and venerable aristocracy kicking and screaming into a modern context. Anarchs thrill to the paradoxes of their condition, because they are the agents of change. Theirs is a glorious history of throwing off the shackles of oppression, and likewise is theirs an ignominious litany of squandered potential and auctioned-off principle. As revolutionaries and gangbangers, criminals and crusaders, the Anarchs are ultimately what they want to be — individually or collectively.
Theme and Mood The theme of Anarchs Unbound is the hypocrisy of change. Among the society of the Damned, affairs remain static, and the presence of the Anarchs challenges the power of tradition. Up until the Anarch Revolt, the existing gerontocracy worked fine — for the Kindred power players who benefited from it. But then these young vampires got the notion to make a stand for their own rights, and they’ve challenged the time-honored pillars of Kindred society every night since. When those rebellions occur, the result is often the replacement of one tyrant with another, throwing down a hated Prince or Archbishop and replacing her with a Baron whose ways are equally autocratic, but without the sanction or oversight of the Camarilla or Sabbat. Certainly, some domains that uphold Chapter Six offers a host of ideas to Storytellers looking to give a distinctly Anarch flavor to their chronicles, from story elements to new game systems. the true ideals of the Anarch Revolt — egalitarianism, a reasonable opportunity for every Kindred to make his way and stake a claim to domain — but these are the exception rather than the rule. All too often the Movement eats its childer or watches them as they compromise their ideals for privilege. It seems to be endemic to the Kindred condition.
The Appendices present additional useful information, including Storyteller characters who might make an appearance in a chronicle and historical documents that helped forge the Anarchs into the sect they are tonight.
Anticipation and suspicion are the bywords of the Anarch experience, and thus its most prevalent moods.
The Anarchs are ever on the verge of achieving their next change. Even in their own domains, stasis equals the peril of becoming like the Camarilla (or perhaps like the other sects, in less frequent circumstances). Anarch coups are like the French Revolution — they ignite at a key event or time and then continue becoming more and more radical until some reaction among the Anarchs stabilizes the chaos. And of course, Anarchs who are agents of this order garner the suspicion of their still-radical peers for wanting to establish that order, because order is the Enemy, the construct of the corrupt powers the Anarchs overthrow. Anarchs are the ultimate political opportunists, championing the “purity” of whatever suits them best and despising the tyranny of anyone other than themselves.
Glossary Baron: A leader of an Anarch domain who exercises more or less absolute power, whether officially or by common acknowledgment.
Chancellor: Executive of a parliamentary democracy, usually chosen by the prevailing faction in the latest election.
Similar to a mortal prime minister, though a domain may have multiple Chancellors. (Not to be confused with the Camarilla Chancellor, who makes official record of boons.) Compact: A randomly chosen group of citizens who stand collective surety for each other in civic matters.
This system is most often used in domains with a weak central law enforcement, or in those where leaders are trying to integrate rival clans, factions, age groups, etc.
Also called frankpledge, cumann, circle, posse, krew.
How to Use this Book Anarchs Unbound is a resource for both players and Storytellers. It contains background information and setting details for those who wish to create and portray these turbulent revolutionaries in their troupe’s chronicles. It also contains secrets, advice, plot seeds, and cultural observations for Storytellers who wish to set their stories or whole chronicles in Anarch domains, or to use them as allies or antagonists in the eternal Jyhad.
Free State: An inconsistently applied term, “Free State” in general simply implies an Anarch domain. Depending upon the user, it may also indicate an Anarch domain without a Baron, the Anarch Free State of California, or the sum of every Anarch domain worldwide. The term’s lack of specificity attests to the decentralized nature of the Movement itself, and is the source of no little consternation to many Kindred.
Chapter One examines the history of the Anarchs, from their birth amid the hallowed diableries of centuries long past to the constant change of the modern nights.
La Libertad: A domain’s anniversary celebration. In most of California, these are held on Cinco de Mayo, but in other places may correspond to the date of the local revolution. In free states, Baronies, and communes, a swearing-in of new citizens is often part of the festivities, and rewards for brave exploits may be doled out as well.
Chapter Two looks at how Anarch domains function and the internal politics and external conflicts that characterize them.
Legate: An agent of a powerful Anarch domain, especially those of the major cities in California, sent openly or secretly to allied domains to serve as liaison, spy and strongarm.
The less polite term is Cheka, after Lenin’s secret police.
Chapter Three explores how Anarchs destabilize the domains of their rivals, with the intention of eventually bringing those domains under praxis of the Movement.
Chapter Four details customization options for Anarch characters, including new Backgrounds that capitalize on the strengths of the Movement.
Molotov: A traveling agent provocateur for hire, employed by some Anarch domains to harass neighboring Camarilla or Sabbat domains into negotiations while denying responsibility for the upheavals.
Chapter Five presents a host of new Disciplines and powers that, while not the sole purview of the Anarchs, take advantage of Anarch ideology and their propensity to share survival tricks, including some unorthodox uses of Tremere blood magic.
President: Head of the executive branch of a democracy in which there’s strict separation of powers between executive branch and legislators.
INTRODUCTION Reeve: A head of law enforcement, loosely equivalent to the Camarilla Sheriff, except that in democratic Anarch domains her powers are far less summary, and she must seek warrants or permits for searches, seizures and arrests.
Rule of Law: A core tenet of most Anarch domains, though not mentioned in the Status Perfectus — the idea that even a domain’s ruling figures are subordinate to the law, which itself is validated by popular consent.
Sweeper: A Kindred charged with scouring a domain to find new arrivals and inform the leadership of their presence. Often ill-regarded.
ANARCHS UNBOUND Old Volunteer: A term of respect for one who’s distinguished himself in a revolt or a war with the sects.
In martially minded or Sabbat-influenced domains they may form an additional (or only) voting body.
Warlord: Usually simply refers to a domain’s top military strategist, but there are also domains where different leaders serve in wartime and peacetime, and in those domains the former is called warlord while the latter is called the old man/old woman. (They may also be called “red chiefs” and “white chiefs,” respectively, in imitation of old Cherokee government.)