A History of the Kindred
Cainite influence in the city of Portland began in the 1850s with the beginning of the practice of Shanghaiing*. When the first Cainites entered the city in the mid 1850s, the people smuggling ring had been in operation for some time. Credit is due to the duo for turning to operation into a tremendous success (in terms of profit). Wynn Davis, a Nosferatu Antitribu from the American south, quickly took control of the underground operations, digging new tunnels and expanding the older ones. It was Davis who was responsible for many of the trap doors hidden in the pubs and taverns of Old Town Portland.
Above ground, Vernon Brighton, a Lasombra originally from England, took control of the smuggling and sale of the human traffic. In the place of many independent criminals who sold off the drugged sailors, Brighton became a leader of sorts, bringing many of the two bit crooks under his authority. He becomes the man with connections in the city, the man that can get anything you want (to his credit, may of these claims are due in large part to his Cainite gifts).
In a growing city like Portland it was only natural that Cainites were attracted to it. Over the course of a few years Brighton and Davis’ partnership grew in a full fledged Sabbat Pack, with Brighton at the helm. As de facto leader of the cities only permanently established Coven, it fell to Brighton to establish the rules by which these Cainites would exists from night to night.
Brighton had seen first hand the destructive capacity humanity could have if they were to learn of the damned and therefore established a pseudo-masquerade. This restrictive nature was not conducive to the violent Sabbat style of rule infamous in other cities. As such, the city was not a prime choice for immigration. Over time, Cainites trickled in, a pack here, a lone Sabbat there. Some came out of a desire for the open hunting grounds the city provided; others wanted to test the restrictions. All who came would bend to the will of Vernon Brighton or they would not stay within the city limits for long.
When another pack believed they could better administrate the city, Brighton and his followers made use of their connections within the mortal power structure as well as their own martial ability. In those early years, their challengers were numerous and at times powerful. In time the word went out to the Sabbat controlled world. The Sabbat of Portland, Oregon was indeed true and they are in fact serious about holding their city in their own way, even if that way was unorthodox.
During the latter half of the 20th century, three factors led to the collapse of the Sabbat power base in the city, influencing the factors that made it possible for the Camarilla to take the city early in the 21st century. The first of these was the end to the practice of Shanghaiing. Tobias, a member of Warwick’s Web, entered the city in 1941. Tobias was not a declared member of either sect, though he did believe in the sanctity of the Masquerade. His loyalties were to the Web and Clan Nosferatu. Tobias was most certainly not a saint, he was not above killing when necessary. What he was not, however, was vicious or violent in nature. To Tobias Shanghaiing was despicable, it was a practice that must be stopped. Not because of the loss of life or the human suffering involved but because the practice endangered the Masquerade. Tobias’ mission was simple. Shut down Wynn Davis’ smuggling operation at any cost. Tobias’ plan was equally as simple. Either Davis would surrender or he would be destroyed.
As the years passed, Davis’ connection to humanity withered away until he was little more than a blood thirsty monster. When he abducted a man, the captive was as likely to make it through the harrowing ordeal alive as he was to be tortured in the dark by this wretched monster. Towards the end of the 1930s federal agents were focusing in on the disappearances and murders taking place in the city of Portland.
From the moment Tobias entered the Nosferatu Warren, a battle for dominance was inevitable. Tobias and Davis were polar opposites. Davis was rash, impulsive and violent where Tobias was cool, collected and rational. Upon their first meeting Tobias laid it out fairly simply for his adversary. It was laughable to Davis, who had been operating in this city for nearly a century. Where Davis was impulsive enough to attack the intruder there and then, his Brood was not. They begged their leader to take the matter up with their allies. This was, after all a matter of seriousness for all of the Cainites of the city.
In retrospect, perhaps they should have simply overpowered and destroyed Tobias.
Vernon Brighton had been confirmed as Archbishop of Portland near the turn of the 20th century. In the time he had known Wynn Davis, Brighton had watched his ally devolve into a monster. He had been planning for some time to remove the menace as he was beginning to appear a liability Brighton could not afford. When Davis came to the Archbishop, his ally and supposed friend of nearly a century, Davis believed he would receive aid. As Davis relayed his tale, Brighton’s mind was opened to a new possibility, he saw in his mind’s eye the solution he had been searching for in the character of Tobias.
Secretly, Brighton met with Tobias and the two plotted. In return for Brighton’s support in removing Davis, Tobias would remain in the city to control the Nosferatu Brood as well as pass along information to the Archbishop. The following night, Vernon Brighton, Archbishop of Portland challenged Wynn Davis to the ritual duel of Monomancy, charging that the Sewer Rat had endangered the Sabbat and violated the Code of Milan by bringing down Government hunters on city. Brighton, two centuries Davis’ elder, swiftly defeated the Nosferatu. Overnight the act of Shanghaiing was ended in Portland and the single largest draw for Sabbat support was lost. From this point forward, the city was only Sabbat in name as Brighton continued a series of reforms that made the city more and more Camarilla-like by the night.
The second blow to the Portland Sabbat was, ironically enough, the destruction of Vernon Brighton. Soft as he was, Brighton was a polarizing figure, a symbol of unity and uniqueness for the Cainites of the city. It was this fact that the Sabbat believed was dangerous about him. In the early 1990s a pack of Black Hand operatives entered the city under the disguise of a Nomadic Pack. They spent months working their way into the cities structure, gaining the trust of key individuals and biding their time for just the right moment. When that time arrived, the Black Hand did not hesitate. Officially, the destruction of Archbishop Brighton remains a mystery to this night.
In the wake of Brighton’s Final Death the Sabbat power structure in the city destabilized. No new Archbishop was named as the Covens could not agree who among them should lead and none among them could muster the power to force his hand. For the next decade, the city was led by a council of Bishops made up of the Coven and Pack leaders who forced their way into meetings. The most influential of these, was Andrew Emory.
Emory’s meteoric rise to power is well documented in Lasombra circles, but will briefly be covered here. He rose through the ranks of his Coven and the Sabbat becoming Ductus of his Coven and a Sabbat Bishop in a relatively short period of time. He learned to master the powers of the Abyss in under a decade. With this mastery came respect and authority within the cities power structure. His combination of power and personality led him to dominate the city council of Bishops. Had things stayed as they were, Bishop Andrew Emory would likely have become Archbishop before long,. But that was simply not meant to be. This brings us to the third and final factor in the downfall of Sabbat power in Portland. The departure of Bishop Emory.
Sabbat Cardinal Moncada met his Final Death in his Madrid haven in the midst of the 1999-2000 East Coast War in part due to the efforts of his rouge childer, Lucita of Aragon. The Friends of the Night, long at odds with what to do about the Antitribu, took this incident as the excuse they needed to finally end the threat she posed to their power. A hunting pack was assembled with Bishop Emory at the lead. This change in orders forced him to leave his city and Coven behind. In the end, when Lucita officially joined the Sabbat, Emory chose to stay by her side, leaving his city without the stabilizing force of his influence. This decision left a power vacuum in the city that many tried to fill all at once. Unlike the loss of Brighton, the departure of Emory provoked an angrier response. Their leader had not been destroyed, but had abandoned them. Minor riots concerning the WTO in the early years of the 21st century provided cover for a city wide Sabbat Civil War. The final signs of weakness were shining through as the Camarilla set their sights on the Rose City.
In the mid 1990s a lone Camarilla agent entered the city to monitor the growing violence between Sabbat factions and to ensure the stability of the Masquerade in this unusual Sabbat city. Rudolph Burgin, a Tremere Adept, was on a mission from his clan as well. In addition to his Camarilla duties, Burgin was to observe the happenings at the local Chantry of Sabbat Tremere as well as to make notes on suspected Koldunist activity in the city. Burgin settled in and waited, reporting back weekly, usually with little to nothing new to report to his superiors. The mysterious vanishing of House Goratrix in 1998 caused Burgin no small amount of alarm. Reporting quickly back to the Tremere Council on the apparent abandoned Chantry, the Adept was ordered to investigate with extreme caution. His goal was to secure the Chantry and hold it for House Tremere.
Entering the Chantry was considerably easer than Burgin had anticipated. The weeks of abandonment had left the defense rituals weakened, the wards mostly ineffective. It was a simple matter of Countermagick to dispel the remaining defenses. The true battle began once inside the building. Behind the hidden walls of the Chantry the Sabbat had been crafting monstrous servants. Blood Brothers and a Gargoyle. Burgin would have met his Final Death in battle against the pack of Blood Brothers had it not been for the fortuitous arrival of the Chantry’s Gargoyle. The creature recognized Burgin as a “Master”, one of the Blood, and retaliated against the “treacherous” Blood Brothers. Burgin later learned that the Sabbat of the Chantry had begun to replace their Gargoyle servants with the Blood Brothers, leaving much bad blood between the two. The Blood Brothers quickly fell to the fangs and claws of the Gargoyle (with no small amount of aid from mystically inclined Adept of course). Soon, the Chantry lent its secrets to House Tremere.
Once informed of their victory in Portland, Clan Tremere dispatched a small coterie of Apprentices to their newest Chantry, promoting Burgin to the rank of Regent in the process. The newly formed Tremere Chantry quickly set to work placing defenses, awaiting the Sabbat counterstrike that they knew was coming. Over the next several years, the Portland Chantry faced opposition from a city full of Sabbat that despised them. Packs of Sabbat looking to make a name for themselves, Koldunists searching for mystic knowledge and threats from Mortal Hunters turned this small group of Kindred into battle hardened Magi. All of this came in handy years later when the greatest uproar sense Tobias usurpation of Davis occurred.
After years of infighting, the Sabbat of Portland had nearly exhausted themselves. Their numbers plummeted to an all time low and dwindled nightly. Some believed that no faction would ever gain the upper hand and even if they did there would be no one left to rule over. It was n this dark time that the Camarilla laid down its tracks to take control of the city from the most unlikely or sources.
Jean-Paul Martinique came to Portland in the 1980s. A shovelhead Serpent of the Light from Haiti, Jean-Paul had spent a great deal of time fighting both the Samedi and the Setites on his native Hispaniola. He never subscribed to either the belief in the Dark God professed by the Followers of Set or the calls for its destruction by the Serpents of the Light. He simply strove to exist night to night. In true Sabbat fashion, survival for Jean-Paul meant gaining power. Over the course of his time in Portland he gathered a number of lone Sabbat or remnants of broken packs to form his own Coven. It was by no means the largest or most powerful of the cities Covens, but it ensured Jean-Paul both a seat on the council and the promise of survival, if only for a time.
During the battle for the city, Jean-Paul kept his Coven out of the main fighting. Existing on the periphery, he did not lend his support to any of the contenders, nor did he declare his intention of seizing power. To this Cobra, stealth and subterfuge would be the key. Quietly, Jean-Paul arranged a meeting with Tremere Regent Burgin. During the course of the meeting, Jean-Paul laid out his design for the city. In exchange for Tremere support in battle, Jean-Paul as Archbishop would see to it that no further harm would come to the Chantry. Indeed, this would have been beneficial for both parties concerned, but Regent Burgin had other designs for the city.
Agreeing to consider the offer, Burgin excused himself. He immediately contacted Tremere Justicar Anastasz DiZagreb. To his credit, the Justicar knew a golden opportunity when he saw one. If the city of Portland were to turn to the Camarilla due to Tremere influence it would be a major boon for the Clan. Unfortunately for the DiZagreb (and the Clan), Council business kept him from perusing the opportunity. He instead referred the situation to an ally. Eva, Lasombra Antitribu Archon of Ventrue Justicar Lucinde was sent to Portland to open negotiations with Jean-Paul. The Bishop was informed that the Camarilla was willing to support his bid for power under the condition that he declares himself Prince of Portland under the influence of the Camarilla. To his credit, Jean-Paul Martinique considered well the offer.
Jean-Paul holds no love in his unbeating heart for either Sect. The only reason he claims membership in the Sabbat is the fact of his Embrace. He was brought into the undying world of the Cainites as a Serpent of the Light, as a member of the Sabbat. He has never believed in the dogma of the sect and if the Camarilla wishes to back his bid for power, so be it, he would become Camarilla. After all, they claim every “Kindred” as a member of their organization. A plan, it seems, was formed.
In a matter of nights, a team of Archons under the command of the Ventrue Justicar entered the city. They joined in the fray with the aid of Tremere warlocks and Jean-Paul’s Coven. The fresh forces of the Camarilla combined with the battle proven warlocks were no match for the war weary Sabbat. The city was quickly overrun by the Camarilla, most resistance faded within two weeks time. The Nosferatu, long in hiding from the conflict above, resurfaced to offer their support for the new Prince. The remains of Emory’s former pack led by Lasombra Alton Horn, who had long sense ceased fighting, came last to pledge support for the Prince. Horn, an old ally of both Emory and Brighton, had set his sights long ago on leadership of the city. In his mind it was his birthright. This young upstart “Prince” would have to be dealt with in time but for now it was best to play the game.
The new order established itself rather quickly. The Camarilla, acting through their newest Prince, offered havens and feeding grounds to young Kindred willing to move to the city. An effort to fortify the city from a Sabbat counter-crusade. Ventrue and Toreador flocked to the city in numbers not seen for some time. The business sector of the city has flourished as the cities economy is on the rise with no end in sight. The Toreador are attracted to the deep rooted art culture in the city. It seems that ever other place one turns an art exhibit can be seen or music is playing. In an effort to better integrate the former Sabbat into the new status quo the newly formed Primogen was made of members both Camarilla and former Sabbat. From Clans Ventrue, Tremere and Toreador the Camarilla was able to speak. The former Sabbat made themselves heard by Clans Lasombra and Brujah. Clan Nosferatu also holds a seat on the council.
What of their Prince? Jean-Paul knows of the Camarilla’s disdain for the Setites, even if he is an Antitribu. For the time being he hides his true nature from all but his most trusted allies. There are those who are aware of what he truly is of course, those who the Prince does not fully trust. The Primogen as well as the Camarilla Archons presently stationed in the city are aware of his true lineage. A few rumors float around the city from time to time of when the Prince was in battle with the Sabbat in the final fight for the city. Secret whispers that speak of his heart being pierced by a stake though he continued on unwaveringly. Rumors that the Sheriff is quick to dispel. And when the rumors are not dispelled, the Scourge has been seen, from time to time.
Do not think that all of these activities have been unseen and unheard by the Camarilla. Less than a month into the new Prince’s reign, the Inner Circle of the Camarilla heard whisperings of the rumors concerning the Prince of Portland. Further investigation was ordered and turned up the unspeakable truth behind Jean-Paul’s lineage. Had it not been for Lucinde’s unfortunate past with the Followers of Set, this particular truth would have remained hidden and forgotten. The exact truth of the matter is still speculated, even at the highest levels of the Camarilla. All that is known is that Lucinde was called before the Inner Circle and was never seen again. A new Ventrue Justicar was named in short order. Gaius Bardus Piso, an ancient Ventrue with distaste for Setites. He has taken a personal interest in the city of Portland, going so far as to have his Archons prepare for him a Haven. He has yet to make an appearance in the city but it is only a matter of time before he does.
Kindred existence continues nightly in Portland, much as it has from the beginning. Scheming Lasombra and plotting Nosferatu. Paranoid hunters gathering together in the night if only to keep a close eye on their rivals. The Kindred of Portland are not quick to trust even each other, let alone an outsider. The Prince does little to restrict freedoms, giving most who ask permission to Embrace, making the once choice hunting in the city more difficult with every night. The Archons of the Camarilla do their best to keep the Masquerade intact while the factions of the city poise themselves on the brink. One misstep and the Kindred of Portland could devolve once more into conflict. A prospect that few would like to see realized.
*Prior to Wynn Davis and Vernon Brighton arrival in the fledgling city of Portland, a lone unnamed (to Davis and Brighton at least) Gangrel made the area his home. Soon after the two Sabbat made the city their home, the unwanted competition of this Gangrel was dealt with in a particularly bloody fashion. The battle was not without its losses however, a frenzied Davis rampaged across the town, leaving several dead in his wake. He was only stopped by Brighton use of force, knocking the Nosferatu into a Torpor that lasted nearly a year.
The Kindred of Portland
Jean Paul Martinique- 9th Generation "Caitiff" (Serpent of the Light Antitribu?) - Prince of Portland
Rudolph Burgin- 9th Generation Tremere Primogen and Chantry Regent
Tobias- 8th Generation Nosferatu Primogen and Warren Leader
Alton Horn- 9th Generation Lasombra Primogen
Eva- 6th Generation Lasombra, Archon to Clan Ventrue
Gaius Bardus Piso- 5th Ventrue Justicar
Adam- 9th Generation Follower of Set and Temple Priest
Their Coteries
The Primogen-
Vipers Nest-
The Warren-
The Temple of the North Star-
Where The Kindred Dwell
Polaris- A Nightclub
Brewery Blocks- Shopping center and office park