Caitiff

Contents

Overview • History • Strongholds • Advantages and Weaknesses • The Caitiff in DC • Caitiff Player Characters

Caitiff

Pseudonyms	Clanless; Orphans; Unbound
Sect	Anarchs, Ashirra, Camarilla, Cradle of Civilization, Drowned Legacies, Independents, Jati, Laibon, Quiet Nations, Shining Kingdoms, Teteoh
Disciplines	Three random of Animalism, Auspex, Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude, Obfuscate, Potence, Presence
Bloodlines	None
Rarity	Common

The Caitiff are not truly a clan at all. In fact, they're barely considered Kindred; at best, the rest of vampire society considers them to be unfortunate mistakes, at worst, vermin to be exterminated. Caitiff are vampires who, for whatever reason, were Embraced without a strong enough connection to become part of their sire's clan. They become clanless, without any of the normal advantages or disadvantages of the clan they should have belonged to, and a random selection of powers that may or may not resemble their sire's. Some theorize that this happens because too many Embraces have caused vampiric blood to thin throughout the ages, and indeed, younger generations of vampires seem to be much more prone to creating Caitiff than others. Others believe it to be a curse, or suspect that a flaw might be carried in the blood of some Kindred who never realize it until they attempt to create childer.

Overview

Caitiff are almost universally disliked, with the absolute best they can hope for being utter disdain and a tendency to completely ignore them. The Camarilla Kindred consider them mongrels barely above mortals in importance, or possibly even worse, since they represent such abject failure. The Anarchs are slightly more accepting, but still ignore and dismiss most Caitiff out of hands, considering them weak and barely useful for menial tasks within the sects. Only the Sabbat, who have accorded Caitiff the right to call themselves Panders and officially claim the status of a bloodline, give them any legitimacy at all, but even they do so mostly in order to use them as cannon fodder. Many sires are likely to put down a Caitiff childe out of hand rather than face the embarrassment of other Kindred finding out about them, and some cities, fearing the influx of inferior vampire blood, even maintain a policy of executing any Caitiff that enter their domain.

History

Advantages and Weaknesses

Caitiff have no advantages - they have no special skills, can't learn any Disciplines beyond the basic ones they begin with, and are usually of low generation and young age. But they also have no disadvantages, either, and need fear none of the downsides that afflict the members of established clans. Some even find the anonymity given them as a being that literally no one cares about to be helpful, allowing them to do things without being noticed.

The Caitiff in DC

While DC is not a city that carries an automatic death penalty for Caitiff, there are still no known clanless ones with permanent residences in it at the moment. Of course, that doesn't mean very much; if there were Caitiff around, it's entirely possible that they would never come to court or make themselves known to the Camarilla Kindred of the city, since doing so would probably be more trouble than it was worth.