Assamite Factions

Factions
    Prior to Ur-Shulgi's awakening, the primary political divisions among the Assamites broke down by their member's views on clan's relations with other Cainites. This is true to a certain extent: As might be expected, few Assamites who favour peaceful relations with Camarilla "Kindred" still reside at Alamut. However, the divisions are now more pronounced, and the two new halves of what was once a somewhat unified clan are engaged in a shadow war whose consequences may stretch far beyond a few Final Deaths.

Loyalists
    The loyalist faction is that which is most similar to the general Kindred world's view of the Assamite clan as a whole. The loyalists hold themselves to be superior to all other vampires -- they believe they are the next step on the food chain, as far above Cainites as Cainites are above mortals. Not all loyalists follow the Path of Blood, but most of them are familiar with its teachings and honour them to one degree or another, as a code of behaviour if not morality.
    Loyalist doctrine holds that ur-Shulgi, the Assamite Methuselah who awoke at the end of the 20th century, is Haqim's herald. According to ur-Shulgi, Haqim is the only true authority that any Child of Haqim should recognize. The Ancestor's peers once charged him with bringing order to the Second City, but their petty bickering (and that of their descendants) proved them incapable of maintaining the honour necessary to uphold their part of that bargain. Thus, the destruction that the Children of Haqim visit upon the Cainites is nothing more than the justice that they themselves once requested. They are a blight upon the world, as the unrest and suffering they cause across the globe proves nightly.
    Among the loyalists, diablerie serves a dual purpose. First, it allows the diablerist to absorb the power of the Blood from those who are unworthy to bear it. This both removes a potential threat to the Children of Seth and strengthens the diablerist for future struggles against the Cainites. Second, it grants a final rest to the soul of the unworthy one, which no doubt rebels against its accursed condition even if its owner's mind refuses to consciously acknowledge this truth. Although most Cainites view diablerie as a violent, murderous act, loyalists believe that it is one of the foremost services they can perform to honour their Ancestor.
    Most loyalists fall along traditional lines of clan organization. The center of their hierarchy is Alamut, the mountain stronghold that has been the clan's physical heart since the fall of the Second City. They acknowledge Haqim as their actual leader, though ur-Shulgi serves as Eldest and regent of Alamut until the return of the Ancestor (which loyalists believe is imminent). The loyalists have no current Caliph, though several candidates are jockeying for position. A series of challenges for the position seems inevitable. The Amr is Amaravati, al-Ashrad's childe and chosen successor. The faction acknowledges no loyalist Vizier and probably never will, as vizier backing of the schismatic movement was too widespread for ur-Shulgi to trust the few members of the caste who remained aligned with him.

Playing Loyalist Characters
    Loyalist Assamites are created as per the usual rules found in Vampire: The Masquerade. However, they are true independents. No loyalist may hold office or Status in the Camarilla or the Sabbat without benefit of an extensive cover identity (which is usually beyond the capacity of a starting character).
    While all loyalists believe that the Children of Haqim are superior to other Cainites, most of them don't act that way every night. One cannot tell a loyalist from a schismatic with a simple glance -- members of the factions do not wear sashes or sigils to proclaim their sympathies. Wise loyalists exploit this in order to sow discord among other Kindred, the better to undermine the schismatics' attempts at credibility and acceptance. Even if it doesn't necessarily harm the schismatics, a loyalist may pretend to be something other than what he is in order to further his own goals. Of course, a loyalist's player should be prepared for his character to experience a potentially fatal backlash if the disguised Assamite is ever unmasked by the Cainites who have come to trust him.

Schismatics
    The first public appearance of the schismatics in early 2000 threatened to shatter the Kindred world's long held assumptions about the Children of Haqim. Although few would be so foolish as to call the schismatics "the good Assamites," they are the members of the clan who are generally the most capable of coexisting non-violently with those Cainites who follow the Traditions. Many schismatics retain their mortal values and moralities, though a significant minority of Path of Blood adherents exist within their ranks. These latter individuals generally follow the Path's tenets of honour and justice over those that promote systematic destruction of all other vampires.
    The core doctrinal argument that led to the schismatic leaders split from the main body of the clan has to do with Haqim's Law of Judgement. Widespread destruction of all non- Assamite Cainites is tantamount to genocide, and judging all other vampires on the basis of the actions of a visible minority -- or even a majority -- of them is anything but just. Most schismatics have a strong sense of irony, recognizing that the very prejudice they condemn in their own clan is levied against them by most of the rest of the Kindred world.
    A large portion of schismatics have no particular leaning toward one or another interpretation of the Law of Judgement. Rather, their quarrel with Alamut is a matter of faith. When ur-Shulgi ascended to the Black Throne, one of his first dictates was the immediate cessation of all worshipping save that of Haqim. While the Muslim majority of the clan may have tolerated a simple order of silence for years or even decades, ur-Shulgi followed up hi initial proclamation by summarily destroying several widely respected elders who refused to renounce Allah. The Leopards of Zion were the first Children of Haqim to challenge ur-Shulgi in defense of their faith; they were far from the last. Practitioners of every major whorl religion an no few minor ones followed al-Ashrad into exile, turning their backs on their clan rather than on their respective gods.
    As tentative allies (and according to some reports, prospective members) of the Camarilla, all schismatics publicly refrain from diablerie. This is particularly difficult for warrior caste schismatics, as their hunger for vitae did not die with their shift of allegiance. Whenever possible, schismatic warriors exist under the direct supervision of a sorcerer or vizier who monitors them for signs of slipping self control. Most Camarilla princes are aware of the warrior's addiction, thanks to al-Ashrad's revelations during his bid for Camarilla hospitality, and grant their warrior citizens whatever they consider appropriate concessions. Most such concessions are "privileges" like "warrior Assamites are excluded from mandatory attendance at any Elysium where attendance is otherwise required for the Kindred." No sensible vampire wants a potential cannibal too close, and so the once proud warriors have been largely reduced to little more then the lackeys and dependants of the other castes. For the most part, schismatic warriors tolerate the restrictions on their behaviour with remarkable good will -- they knew what they were stepping into, and they left Alamut because they believed in something (even if that "something" was self preservation) strongly enough to accept the social stigma of being "refugees" or Second Class Cainites.
    The schismatics currently maintain a loose organizational structure that mimics, but does not fully conform to, the clan's pre Schism order. Al-Ashrad serves a dual role as Amr and Eldest. Tegyrius, the pre Schism Vizier, still holds that position. The schismatic faction has no Caliph, as the Camarilla would see the establishment of a formal organizational structure for the schismatic warriors as too much of a threat. In most Camarilla cities, the eldest sorcerer or vizier is the de facto leader of all local schismatics and must typically report his "subjects" activities to the prince on a regular basis.

Playing Schismatic Characters
    As with loyalists, schismatics are created as per Vampire: The Masquerade's normal rules. Unlike the "default" Assamites presented in that book, however, schismatics may be at least nominally members in the Camarilla, depending on the preferences of the players and the Storyteller. However, they're nowhere near as widely accepted as members of the seven founding clans are, and it’s rather difficult for them to accrue large amounts of Status or hold office. No Kindred has heard any reports of Assamite princes, though the Seneschal of Phoenix is a Vizier and Paris and Athens have a sorcerer and a vizier, respectively, among their Primogen. These are exceptions rather than rules. Most schismatics fortunate enough to have claimed Camarilla titles this quickly are Sheriffs or Scourges.
    Many schismatics still privately believe that they're superior to all other vampires. Old lessons die hard, after all. But those who are unwise enough to be vocal about their beliefs are usually on the receiving end of a very pointed lesson from their "Kindred." Most members of the faction know what a good thing they have going with the Camarilla don't want their less diplomatic peers to jeopardize that. If they want to be accepted as full sect members some night, their best option for the present is to keep their mouths shut.

The Dispossessed
    More a catchall category than a rigidly defined faction, the dispossessed are traditionally Assamites who choose their own paths over the clans’ internal hierarchy. The first recorded use of the term dates to the eight century B.C., when the warrior caste's historian, Thucimia, wrote of her rebellious childe as "a wanton and wild thing, heeding no authority save that of the spear, dispossessed by his own hands and lips of the safety of Alamut's hearth and comradeship of Haqim's Children." In the early Middle Ages, dispossessed warriors seeking mercenary employment in the Cainite courts of Europe gave birth to the first tales that cast the Assamites as hired killers. Several centuries later, a group of honour conscious individuals briefly earned the label of "dispossessed" before establishing themselves as Assamite antitribu. Assamites who claimed Inconnu membership were always considered dispossessed, as were those rare few who gave the Camarilla their loyalty or fled east to attempt alliance and coexistence with the Cathayans.
    The greatest numbers of dispossessed existed during the Long Night. In this era, perhaps as many as one in three Assamites was dispossessed, though the clan has never kept exact records of the number of newly Embraced members who turned their backs on Haqim's legacy. This population boom could not last, however, and the nascent Camarilla's crusade against the Assamites fell heavily on the dispossessed. Many non-aligned Assamites met Final Death prior to the Treaty of Tyre for no reason other than their heritage. Dispossessed elders were favoured targets of Assamite hunting coteries by virtue of their unnaturally dark skin. By the time the treaty was signed in 1496, less the a few score dispossessed remained in existence across Europe and North Africa. The rest had either perished, renounced their iconoclasm and rejoined Alamut, entered torpor or sought sanctuary with the Inconnu.
    Owing to recent events, the dispossessed may now make up a portion of the clan close to that of a millennium ago. Although, many members of all three castes fled Alamut for the relative security and stability of the Camarilla, roughly as many chose to follow no leader rather than submitting to a power structure that they had known as the enemy since receiving the Blood. Alamut and the Camarilla are two polar extremes, with the Sabbat lying somewhere off the scale, and many Assamites feel that none of these options are acceptable. Both faction heads are scrambling to bring these diverse individuals back to the fold -- as are the various leaders of the Assamite antitribu.
 
Playing Dispossessed Characters
    In general, a dispossessed character is the best option for a player wanting to portray an Assamite who does not conform to any of the clan's various hierarchies or claim any factional loyalty. Dispossessed come from all three castes and may have rejected clan authority for any number of reasons, the threat of a personal enemy, lack of sufficient instruction from their sires in the "clan culture," disgust with Assamite politics or just a stubborn streak of independence. Likewise, dispossessed tend to ally themselves with whatever pack, coterie, or individual seems to provide the best opportunity for personal gain -- or simply for personal safety.
    For purposes of the views of the organized Assamite factions, Assamites who become Anarchs or who join the Inconnu or other elder exclusive organizations and conspiracies are dispossessed. As stated earlier, "dispossessed" is more of an "everything else" category than a given set of clan members.