The embers of the Red Crown Rebeillion still burn dimly in the shadows of Europes great cities, the Masquerade was brought to its very limit and if not for the actions of a few may well have been torn asunder. The Masquerade has endured and the Kindred which have emerged triumphant in the conflict are left to rebuild the shattered world around them. Whispers of an ancient conspiracy called the Eternal Senete are heard in even the smallest Elysiums, the legend says that the Senate is comprised of dynasties which supplanted the long dead Camarilla. Regardless of the truth of these rumors if the Senate exists its seat of power is shattered leaving a power vacuum in Europe and numerous factions seek primicy over their rivals.

Among the most powerful of these factions is the Empire, a confederation of powerful vampires whom bonded together to supplant the Eternal Senete. With their primary purpose completed the Empire now looks to craft a enduring kind of peace yet the Red Crown Rebellion has left the Empire in a vaunerable state. Emperor Haloise Giovanni, the self styled tyrant of the Conspiracy of Silince now looks to homogenize his rule and utilize cunning rather then force to safe guard his Empire.

The Empire is not without rivals however, Cardinal Gavin Giovanni rules from the city of Milan and his own enmity for the Empire is no hidden thing. His command of the Lancea et Sanctum verges on absolute as he seems to be next in line to fill the vacancy at the top of the Dark Church. He has ordered a devastating crusade to assert the Sanctifieds claim on the areas resources, history, and artifacts. With the bulk of the church focused on the Crusade his own personal army makes ready for a conflict between the two Giovanni.

The Crusade of the Sanctified is not without opposition, the Circle of the Crone and the fanatics of the Cult of Ruby lead by the elder Desponia Nikadimos resist their advance at every turn. The Cult itself wishes to restore itself to prominence after several critical setbacks namely in France where they were routed. Yet the chaos caused by the Red Crown Rebellion has allowed the Cult of Ruby to spread in those most chaotic of regions like an untamed vines.

Following the death of its leaders the Red Crown Rebellion turned in upon itself splintering between the various Covenant factions which supported it. The Firebrands of the Carthian Movement now fight among themselves across eastern and norther Europe. In some areas the conflict is a simple clash of ideas while in others it is far more brutal. The Ordo Dracul is similarly suffering its own leadership struggle following the death of grandmaster Ivan in Bucharest. The Childe of the late Empress, Serena the Second has made herself Prince of Bucharest and has united many Dragons to her side over concern of the Sanctified and their Crusade.

Numerous other pocket factions exist throughout Europe belonging to various Covenants and varying allegiances, yet there is one more coveted then any other. The city of Venice is ruled by a mysterious Kindred known only as the Doge, next to nothing is known for certain about this vampire but Venice is the hub where those Kindred who know how to get you where you need to be operate from. Weather it be by air, land, sea, or some stranger way of getting around the vampires of Venice can get you there given the right motivation and given the storm clouds over Europe there is no shortage of those coming to court the favor of the Doge.

The Empire

The origin of the Empire as it stands tonight dates back at least five centuries if not longer and was the brain child of a Ventrue named Pellegrino, the heir of a prestigious Ventrue Dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire. Pellegrino suronded himself with the most talented Vampires he could find knowing full well that he would need every advantage he could to confront the Eternal Senete whose greed and bloodlust threatened the Masquerade. He would recruit Haloise Giovanni and Serena the Bloody (or the First as she was also known) to act as his captains and enforcers, Fernand Mondego and himself would be the politicians of the group, while a Daeva named Maximilien Morrel accounted for the groups resources and Gerard de Villefort would be the groups spy and information broker. Future members would go on to include another Daeva named Hermine Danglars who assisted in the over throw of Tiberius Giovanni and Marcus Vitel who offered the group his insight in to the occult.

Centuries of deals and power brokering seemed to be working for the Coteries favor but success brought new danger for them. Shortly before the French Revolution the group succeeded in ousting the Ancient Tiberius Giovanni and pushing him out of France. The Eternal Senete took their reprisal by arranging for Serena to be made Empress and in turn used her to hunt down her former peers. Having grown disenchanted with the Invictus after the fall of her friend Hermine Danglars would join the Circle of the Crone during its violent birth forcing the group to distance itself. The third setback came when the Childe of Pellegrino in a fit of madness committed Diablerie upon his Sire.

Prospects seemed grim for the group which was now forced in to hiding, Maximilien Morrel thought that because of his resources he should lead the remnants of the group but the consensus was for Haloise to lead. The Daeva was furious but was to week willed to protest for long and eventually supported the group however tentatively. Haloise would preserve the groups network in Europe while the others traveled to Vienna.

The group would again come in to ascendency after the Second World War when the iron grip of the Eternal Senete was as devastated as the rest of Europe. The Vampires of the fledgling Empire were quick to become active in global systems and used their considerable influence to build a city atop the site of the First Empires Palace. Empress Serena meet final death attempting to stop her former coterie mates from stoping Tiberius Giovanni. Similarly Maximilien Morrel  meet final death for using his resources to aid the Ancient Vampire but inevitably Tiberius was defeated and Haloise declared himself emperor.

First to pledge fealty to the new Empire was Nikolas Wolfe, Prince of Cologne and King of Germany and Childe of Pellegrino, followed by a personal oath from Marcus Vitel which brought with it support from many of Spain's courts. The earliest days of the Empire were violent with a swiftly caught conflict between the Empire and the Kindred of  Poland whose ruler believed he should be emperor. A similar conflict occurred in France which would see Selene Giovanni, the Childe of Haloise take the throne.

The Red Crown Rebellion organized by the courts of England saw the absolute supremacy of the Empire broken, nevertheless the Empire endured and added the courts of England to its domain.

The Dark Church

The Requiem of Gavin Giovanni is a long and lonely one, the eldest surviving Childe of his tyrannical sire Tiberius Giovann, in his neonate years he found comfort in the Testament of Longinus. Showing no aptitude for the dark scheming of his sire he was seen as a disappointment as such was left to fend for himself despite his Sires man enemies. Gavin remind true to his faith and with time became a Priest and his coterie was as his flock. The land in which Gavin lived and died was not the native land to Tiberius and some decades after Gavin's embrace his agenda there was complete and he ordered Gavin to follow him to France. Gavin feeling no loyalty to his sire refused, infuriated Tiberius murderd each member of Gavin's coterie, his herd meet with dark fates and those he kept close were lost and Tiberius sent his childe in to torpor.

When he awoke Tiberius had embraced twice over, Haloise and Caterina, his broodmates, he felt some sense of loyalty to his peers empathizing for their situations and helping them adjust. He knew though if he was not quick to make himself useful his sire might have gotten rid of him. He would joint his local Sanctified and quickly assumed his position as a Priest. He also actively played a part in Elysium, keeping his sire informed of his rivals. In time Tiberius sent Gavin to Milan where he eventually became bishop and then archbishop all the while keeping his sire appraised of what he knew.

During Gains rise in Milan, Haloise and Tiberius had a falling out and Haloise fled to Milan for a time only to in turn be betrayed and forced to flee. Haloise and Gavin would have nothing but animosity for one another from this time forward. Gavin dedicated himself to the Kindred of his city and for a time found peace even if he was cut off from others of his clan. Centuries passed and the church called upon Gavin to help establish a bastion for the faithful in Eastern Europe. It was during this conflict that he again crossed path with Haloise and the two reluctantly worked together to break the grip of the Cult of Ruby in the area. At the height of the war differing sides drove the two Giovanni towards different agendas and shattered any chance at reconciliation.

Gavin had no taste for the battlefield and returned to Milan where he built a cult of personality around him, and sent his agents across Europe in pursuit of knowledge, and artifacts. It was not until Tiberius feel completely from grace that he cast his shadow over Gavin again. He gave his sire shelter and sow to transporting him to the new world. He has been the pawn of his sire through and through but when Tiberius meet final death at the hands of Haloise he grew concerned.

Seeing the Empire as a threat to both himself and the church Gavin has walked further down the road of damnation then even Tiberius and suronded himself with legions of thralls and retainers, his influence is a subtle but there is no where in Europe it can not be felt.

The Cult of Ruby

The origins of the cult are shrouded in mystery, some part truth, some part mythology, some part delusion. To hear them tell the tale their origins date back to well before the Camarilla, to one of the mystery cults of Ancient Greece where their serpentine patron still ruled over them. Yet the history of the Ventrue is dodgy at best so none can say for certain what is known is that the cult is ruled by the Ventrue Desponia Nikadimos and her followers heed her very word as law.

According to the Sanctified the cult has been destroyed numerous times only to be resurgent a few decades later thanks in no small part to the tanacity of its leader. She first made her mark on Kindred history when she asserted her authority over the pagan vampires of Eastern Europe. She ruled for several decades until the Sanctified and Invictus made war upon her domain in an attempt to add it to their own. At first it seemed the fanatics of the Cult would repel the invaders but when a group from within betrayed her the tide of war turned.

Desponia was undaunted though, she had full confidence of her divinity and collected a band of her most faithful subjects and abandoned the rest when it bacame clear that the war was lost. Her vengeance would come in time many centuries later, like a snake in the grass she traveled throughout Europe, finding and founding enclaves of pagan vampires, alongside others she set the kindling that would be the Bloody birth of the Circle of the Crone.

Slaughter swept through Europe and all the Invictus and Sanctified could do at the time to stave off destruction was bleed and suffer, satisfied with her vengeance she set roots in the south of France eventually joining with Tiberius Giovanni in his gambit to eliminate all vampires not loyal to him. When Tiberius failed her part in the scheme was revealed and she knew the upstart Empire would want its own vengeance so she fortified her position in France and moved to strike at the heart of the Empire. Her gambit failed and the reprisal did come but she was far from vanquished.

She traveled to the Middle East with an elite cadre of followers and poisoned the minds of the local Kindred turning them against one another while she regained her strength. In time her followers took control of vast swaths of territory and it the cult was reborn again. Again her influence flows in to Europe like untreated poison and her personal legend has grown with each death and rebirth among those Acolytes in the Mothers Army.

The Confederation of the Devil

The Crusade initiated by Gavin has stormed through the east and the Ordo Dracul stuck in a leadership crisis was caught off guard. Dozens of Academics fell under siege and all manner of occult knowledge and life was lost. Serena the Second recently installed herself as Prince of Bucharest and has rallied many Dragons to her side as well as other sympathizers who wish to resist Gavin's will. A brilliant defense of her own domain has recently convinced more to join her in defiance of Gavin and the Sanctified.

She is far from having full authority over her peers but as the conflict stands now few could question her methods and their results. While still out numbered, under supplied she has managed to fight the Crusade to a standstill

The Fractured Revolution

The Firebrands in Europe have been devastated in recent years, mislead, betrayed, and locked in internal conflict the Carthian Movement seems to be on the cusp of breaking. Then again when doesn't the Revolution seem about to fail only to return, stronger and more ferocious then it was before. The Carthians are broken in to innumerable cells ranging from the size of a coterie to that of a city. It started with a poorly though out alliance with the Mages of the Seers of the Throne that resulted in devastation for the Movement, then the Covenant was divided on where it stood during the Red Crown Rebellion and has been locked in a conflict with itself ever since, with the fiercest fighting happening in Eastern Europe.

There is some rumors of one group of Carthians capitalizing on the infighting pitting groups against one another and then leading the survivors. The commitie as the rumor calls them may be rebuilding the Revolution on the blood of their peers although these are just stories.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:23, Thu 30 Nov 2017.