The Anarchs

In order to better represent the unique setting and theme of Los Angeles, as set in the World of Darkness, I am going to be structuring Anarch and Camarilla recruitment slightly differently. You can refer to post 2 on this board for an overall look at the sphere. A much more comprehensive treatment will be coming to the website soon (which is currently a bit out of date), and a little bit more below.

Special Rule: Although you are normally limited to one Supernatural alt per sphere, I am willing to allow a player to have two vampires, provided one is a Westside or Hollywood Anarch and the other Camarilla. You cannot have two Anarchs or two Camarilla. Sabbat and Tal’Mahe’Ra are not available yet, but when they are, they will also be ineligible. This is exclusively a Camarilla and Anarch special allowance, and it’s because canonically, Los Angeles is overrun with young neonates and fledglings loosely affiliated with the Camarilla and the Anarchs.

Narrative: This is a ‘youth’ movement, which got kickstarted in the last couple decades (after the assassinations of the Baron Jeremy MacNeil by the Kuei-jin, and then of Sebastian LaCroix – the Prince who replaced him – purportedly by Nines’ South Central Anarchs.) In the past, the powerful Hollywood mogul Isaac Abrams, an ally of MacNeil, regarded the Westside as his private domain and kept other vampires from feeding on and Embracing the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful. That broke down in the chaos following LaCroix’ assassination, and Abrams was never able to reassert control.

Since then, the Westside Anarchs have managed to shake free of Isaac Abrams, and to defend themselves both from an attempt by the old school South Bay Anarchs to take over the Westside, and from a Setite infiltration. In the last 2-3 years, they succeeded in getting the Camarilla (which is mostly centered in Downtown, with both Abrams’ Hollywood domain and the powerful Kuei-jin of Koreatown between them and the Westside) to accept Cheyenne, the Westside Anarch’s defacto spokesfang and hence ‘Baron’.

Incentives: Any Westside Anarch which belongs to the Brujah, Toreador or Ventrue Clans will automatically receive T3 XP. Those just happened to be the Clans of the renegade Coterie that first began Embracing kids in the mid-Oughties. Many of these Embraces were the children of wealthy and influential mortals.

Isaac Abrams, the hidden hand behind the Golden Age of Hollywood, has long been very protective of his Domain. He’s also something of a weathervane. He was an ally of MacNeil, yet he switched his allegiance to the Camarilla when it seemed like the city was going to be overwhelmed by the Kuei-jin invaders and the power struggles of MacNeil’s surviving lieutenants. He was the Toreador Primogen under LaCroix. After LaCroix’ assassination, he attempted to claim the Praxis for himself. He failed, and is tonight largely discredited among both the Camarilla and the Anarchs. He has assumed the title of Baron of Hollywood (something he never dared claim during the MacNeil era), and is a pseudo-ally of the Camarilla (though he despises the Tremere Regent, Strauss). He has a particularly long-standing alliance with the Nosferatu, whose warrens are beneath Hollywood. Since his failure to subdue the Westside Anarchs, he has largely occupied himself with the massive Hollywood & Highland Entertainment Complex development project.

There are fairly few vampires that owe any kind of allegiance to Isaac Abrams. Hollywood is mostly a gray area where the Westside Anarchs and the fledglings and neonates of the Camarilla hunt and play. Most anyone is allowed to make their Domain there, if they don’t make trouble. Isaac has immense influence in the mortal world, and is respected and feared for that, but he has largely resigned himself to a resentful and temporarily cooperative role. Still, he claims to speak for any Anarch north of the Santa Monica Freeway (since those south of it would happily kill him), who isn’t explicitly beholden to either the Westside fledglings or the Camarilla.

Incentives: Isaac Abrams has a rather infamous Gargoyle bodyguard who also patrols Hollywood for him. I’m quite open to letting a PC take this T2 role, although it would need a great app. Otherwise, Hollywood is mostly there for the more independent sorts.

There are huge Anarch confederacies lead by Jeremy MacNeil’s old lieutenants in the South Bay and South Central area. They are mutually hostile to each other, with their territories roughly divided by the Harbor Freeway. There was a brief period, about ten years ago, when the Brujah known as Nines, the leader of the South Central Anarchs, almost succeeded in unifying both groups and taking over the city. His disappearance is one of modern undead Los Angeles’ great mysteries. There are many rumors as to his potential fate and the identity of his assassins, from the Tremere Maximillian Strauss, to Isaac, to the Kuei-jin or even factions within the South Bay Anarchs.

The South Central Anarchs are easily the most powerful vampire faction within Los Angeles. They are numerous and have many combat veterans from decades of fighting, some stretching back to the formation of the Anarch Free State. They are unrelentingly hostile to the Sabbat, Camarilla and Kuei-jin. Even with the loss of the charismatic Nines, they are a major challenge to deal with. Despite being in a two front war with the South Bay Anarchs and the East LA Sabbat, the main reason they haven’t made a move on Hollywood and Downtown is that the mysterious Kuei-jin of Koreatown are in the way. They also know that the Nosferatu Warrens under Hollywood and the Tremere Chantry in Downtown would be serious obstacles.

Incentives: I’m not currently seeking apps for ‘old school’ Anarchs, unless they have chosen to abandon them, by moving north of the Santa Monica Freeway. If you have a particularly intriguing concept, I’d be happy to talk with you about what extra benefits it might deserve. The hardcore Anarchs of the Southlands are largely an NPC phenomena and threat at the moment.