Camarilla vampires swear to uphold the legendary Six Traditions of Caine, the laws which Caine supposedly passed to his progeny. Like any other laws, the Traditions are commonly ignored, bent or violated outright.

Thou shall sire another only with the permission of thine elder. If thou createst another without thine elder's leave, both thee and thy progeny shall be slain.

Those thou create are thine own childer. Until thy progeny shall be released, thou shall command them in all things. Their sins are thine to endure.

Honor one another's domain. When thou comest to a foreign city, thou shall present thyself to the one who ruleth there. Without the word of acceptance, thou art nothing.

Thou art forbidden to destroy another of thy kind. The right of destruction belongeth only to thine elder. Only the eldest among thee shall call the blood hunt.

____The Camarilla's bitter rival is the dread sect called the Sabbat. Originally the remnants of the shattered anarch packs, the Sabbat has evolved - or devolved - into something much deadlier. The Sabbat would "liberate" all vampires from the chains of the Camarilla and their sires. The ultimate Social Darwinists, the Sabbat espouses the tenet of vampiric supremacy - the doctrine that, because vampires are highest on the food chain, they should not hide from mortals, but instead dominate them outright. This attitude toward humans often manifests itself in actions that appear horrific and cruel by mortal standards; accordingly, the Sabbat is often branded a sect of violent evildoers by outraged Camarilla vampires.

____Two clans lead the Sabbat. The Lasombra clan is the most prestigious clan and is dreaded for its members' control over the stuff of shadow. Its ally and occasional rival is the Tzimisce, a clan of twisted scholars and sorcerers infamous for cruelty. Tzimisce are said to have the power to warp and mold their own and others' flesh and bone.

____Some younger vampires strive to remain free of both Camarilla and Sabbat control. These vampires style themselves "anarchs" in homage to the warriors who led the great revolt of the 15th century. For the most part these modern anarchs are ragtag bands of Brujah and Caitiff predators, though all clans are represented in their ranks. The Camarilla treats them as it would termites - individually insignificant, but potentially crippling if allowed to breed and fester.

____Four clans choose to remain neutral in the great Jyhad, bartering their services to (and jockeying for power with) Camarilla and Sabbat indifferently. These are: the Assamites, a deadly clan of vampire assassins based in the Middle East; the Followers of Set, a dark cult of vampires devoted to the worship of the snake-god Set; the Giovanni, an insular family of incestuous necromancers and financiers; and the Ravnos, a nomadic line of Gypsy charlatans and thieves.

____Finally, certain ancient vampires withdraw from the sects' games altogether, seeking solitude amid the wastes. These old ones, called Inconnu, reject the power-games of the clans and sects, instead seeking self-mastery and enlightenment. Some whisper of a darker purpose behind the Inconnu's withdrawal from the Jyhad, but most vampires think of Inconnu as nothing more than deluded recluses.

Since the nights of antiquity, the Children of Caine have struggled for supremacy. Leaders, cultures, nations and armies have all been pawns in the secret war, and vampiric conspiracies have influenced much (though by no means all) of human history. Few things are as they seem in the vampires' nocturnal world; a political coup, economic crash or social trend may be merely the surface manifestation veiling a centuries-old struggle. Vampire elders command from the shadows, manipulating mortals and other vampires alike - and the elders are often manipulated in turn. Indeed, most combatants may not even realize for whom they fight, or why.

Ask a mortal to name the most dangerous predator on Earth, and he might mention a Bengal tiger, a Nile crocodile or a great white shark. Ask the same question of a vampire, and often one will hear the word "Methuselah" leaving those cold lips.

Simply put, Methuselahs are ancient vampires - beings that have survived for over a millennium. Having been undead for so long, Methuselahs often undergo profound physiological and psychological changes. From a vampire's point of view, the most horrible of these is a predilection for vampire blood - just as vampires stalk mortals, so they are occasionally stalked in turn.

Most vampires prefer to ignore the existence of the Methuselahs, considering them near-extinct aberrations akin to dinosaurs. It is ironic, then, how many of the plots of the Jyhad can ultimately be traced to these ancient, shadowy progenitors.