Camarilla Lexicon

Lexicon

Allthing: A gathering of Gangrel, often called by the eldest clan member in a particular region. A small gathering is called a thing.

Anarch: A vampire who has rejected the Camarilla to exist as an independent. The vast majority of anarchs are under a century old.

Archon: A vampire in the service of a justicar. Archons are rarely of the same clan as the justicar they serve so as to avoid the appearance of favoritism, and are deputized with a wide array of powers. Most archons are blood bound to the justicar they serve.

Ball: A gathering of Toreador and invited guests.

Barrens: The areas outside a city proper that are uninhabitable by Kindred. Generally the Barrens start in the near suburbs and extend outward from a city.

Blood Bond: The supernatural love created by the act of ingesting a Kindred's vitae three times. Bonds can rarely be broken, especially if they are periodically reinforced with more vitae.

Blood Hunt: The process by which a prince declares another vampire to be outlawed, and the prosecution (in the form of an actual hunt) that follows.

Breach: A violation of the Masquerade, usually punishable by death.

Camarilla: The sect of vampires, theoretically universal, that defines itself by the Traditions and the Masquerade.

Chantry: A communal haven-cum-workshop for a city's Tremere.

Conclave: A gathering of the entire sect, usually called by a justicar.

Convention of Thorns: The treaty that ended the Anarch Revolt.

Coterie: A group of Kindred who work more or less in concert. Most coteries are made up of members of multiple clans, and few endure for more than a few decades.

Court: The formal audience granted by the prince to his subjects, often given at Elysium. When a prince holds court, in theory any of the city's Kindred may approach him to present themselves, request boons, or otherwise make requests for favor or action.

Domain: A territory assigned to a single vampire, who then has primary rights to feeding, industry, and whatnot within her domain.

Destruction: The power of life and death over other Kindred. Possessed by a city's prince and occasionally bestowed on others within his domain.

Embrace: The act of turning a mortal into a vampire.

Elysium: A haven of art and culture within a Camarilla city. Elysiums are, by long tradition, zones wherein combat or the use of Disciplines is strictly forbidden. Much of the harpies' work is done in Elysium.

Final Death: The ultimate destruction of a vampire.

Founders: The legendary group of Kindred who established the Camarilla.

Ghoul: 1. A mortal (usually, but not always a human) who has been fed vitae and acquired a hint of vampiric power as a result. 2. The act of making someone a ghoul.

Harpy: A de facto title given to the Kindred who sit in judgment on the rest of a city's social status. The harpies mandate the social pecking order through innuendo, rumors, favoritism, and other such tools.

Inner Circle: The council of elders that controls the Camarilla and its policies. No one knows how many Kindred sit on the Inner Circle, let alone the clans and names of those who do so.

Justicar: A roving representative of the Inner Circle charged with upholding the Traditions and laws of the Camarilla. There is one justicar from each clan, elected to a 13-year term by the Inner Circle and subject to replacement at the end of that term. Justicars have sweeping powers, including the right of destruction, to enforce the laws and Traditions.

Keeper of Elysium: The vampire charged with upholding the sanctity and quality of a city's Elysium.

Malkavian Madness Network: The poorly understood connection that links all Malkavians by means of their shared altered perceptions. Outside theorists postulate that the network has developed some sort of link to the Net, but details are understandably hard to come by.

Masquerade: The Camarilla's strict policy of concealing the existence of vampires from the mortal world.

Ordeal: A form of trial among the Kindred, wherein the accused undergoes some sort of test (combat, sunlight, etc.) in order to prove her innocence.

Pioneer: The first Kindred into a city or area. Pioneers often set themselves up as princes, and call for reinforcements to help them maintain their holdings. Few pioneer princes last long; once they've stabilized their domains most are rudely shoved aside by usurpers less inclined to take risks.

Primogen: A member of the council of elders who putatively advise the prince of a city. The primogen council's actual power varies from city to city.

Prince: The ruler of a city or its equivalent in the Camarilla; the supreme authority in local Camarilla affairs. The title applies to both male and female Kindred.

Pyramid: Slang term for the formal structure of Clan Tremere.

Rack: The prime feeding grounds in a given city. Often composed of clubs, bars, and shopping districts.

Rant: A formal (in some sense of the word) gathering of Brujah.

Red List: The listing of those Kindred whom the Camarilla most ardently desire to see purged from the face of the earth. Vampires on the Red List are considered under continual blood hunt.

Retainer: A mortal or ghoul who serves a Cainite directly.

Scourge: Title given to a Kindred charged by the prince with cleansing the city of unwanted, unauthorized vampiric rabble.

Seneschal: A prince's right-hand vampire. The seneschal handles many of the night-to-night operations of a city.

Sheriff: Kindred charged by a prince with the duty of upholding the laws and Traditions of the city.

Spawning Pools: Breeding chambers for ghouls used by the Nosferatu. The water of the pool is tainted with Nosferatu vitae, making ghouls of any and every living thing therein. Over centuries, these creatures can grow to monstrous size and power.

Traditions: The most sacred and basic laws of the Camarilla, established at the same time as the sect.

Vitae: Blood. More specifically, Kindred blood, but the definition is not an absolute one.


Vulgar Argot

Angstburger: Over-the-top moping about one's vampiric condition. Usage: Dominic was chewing on a big old angstburger at the Goth club tonight.

Apeshit: Frenzy.

Ash: A vampire who's been destroyed. Usage: Tomasino pissed off the sheriff; now he's ash. Sometimes used as a verb, meaning "to kill."

Bloat: Taking more blood than one needs, resulting in reddened eyes, a ruddy complexion, and the continual shedding of tears of blood.

Blooded: A vampire.

Boojum: Any other supernatural creature, usually non-vampiric.

Bot: Someone clearly acting under the influence of Dominate. Often reserved for mortals reduced to automaton status.

Brightening Sunsets: Another term for a destroyed Kindred, It refers to the way in which excess dust and ash produce particularly brilliant coloration. Usage: Lisette crossed the Nosferatu elder, so now she's brightening sunsets.

Cannibal: A vampire who indulges in diablerie.

Cleanup: Repairing an Oops, or otherwise working to protect the Masquerade.

Clockwatcher: A vampire who worries excessively about the approach of dawn.

Collar: Blood Bond. The term has a distinctly sadomasochistic inference attached to it.

Cub Scouts: Archons.

Dessert: Feeding for pleasure, not need.

Doornail: As in, "dead as a." Used to refer to a corpse left behind. Usage: We went out for supper and dropped a couple of doornails in the river.

Do Over: The process of erasing memories from a mortal's mind. Often used to cover up evidence of feeding.

Fossil: Derisive term for a vampire who is stuck, stylitically, in an anachronistic mode of behavior. Often used to refer to elders.

Futon: A coffin.

Fuzzy: A Lupine.

Grandpa: A member of a vampire's lineage more distant than her sire.

Half-Breed: A ghoul. Sometimes phrased as "Half-Blood."

Happy Meal: The process of drinking from a mortal who is intoxicated or otherwise under the influence of some sort of controlled substance.

Inky: A hunter, specifically a member of the Inquisition.

John Law: The sheriff; less frequently the scourge.

Juice: Vitae.

Leftovers: Blood taken from a corpse.

Laid: Fed.

Lunch: Vitae, or the mortal from whom the vitae is obtained. Usage: I Met lunch at the coffeehouse tonight.

Lupine Alley: Travel arteries that run through Lupine territory, and are notoriously dangerous for vampires to traverse.

Monster: A vampire who terrorizes younger, weaker Kindred. Sometimes spelled Monsta, usually by poseurs.

Munchies: Hunger for vitae after heavy use of Disciplines.

Nibs: The prince or any other important vampire. Not intended as a compliment.

Oops: A breach of the Masquerade. Usage: We had a little Oops tonight, but it's taken care of.

Perv: A vampire who insists on indulging in mortal sexuality to mask the process of feeding.

PF: Short for "pity fuck." A Kindred who receives the Embrace because of guilt or pity on the part of his sire.

Prefrosh: A mortal who is a candidate for the Embrace.

Princeling: A derisive term for the leader of a coterie.

Rabbit: A vampire who only feeds on animals. Animal blood is sometimes also known as rabbit food.

Rag: The weakest vampire in a coterie.

Recruiting: Breaking the Masquerade so as to prepare a mortal for the Embrace.

Renfield: A long-time ghoul, usually one who has far exceeded normal mortal lifespan.

Rug: A dead Lupine. Alternately, a dead Gangrel.

Sabbot: A derisive term for the Sabbat. Pronounced "SAA-bet," usually in some form of ridiculous accent.

Sand Castle: An unsafe haven or vulnerable domain.

Scoutmaster: A justicar.

Shovelhead: Sabbat vampire.

Snap: A broken collar.

Soy: Vitae taken from an nimal; a less-filling and tasteless substitute for the real thing.

Speed Bumps: Mortals or inexperienced ghouls pressed into combat against vampires.

Starfucker: A vampire who makes a habit of feeding from the rich and famous.

Suntanning: Being staked out for the sun. A common punishment used by princes on rebellious Kindred.

Teardrop: A Kindred who kills mortals on a regular basis. Possibly derived from certain mortal gang's custom of tatooing teardrops on the cheek of gang members who have committed murder.

Tentacle: A hideously deformed vampire, usually a Tzimisce.

TFBS: Bela Lugosi's Dead, by Bauhaus. Nearly universally loathed by all Kindred, who have simply heard it too damn many times for the joke to be funny anymore.

Trashman: A vampire who feeds on the homeless and other human detritus. The term derives from such Kindred's tendency to pick up supper from alleyways or curbsides.

Uncle: Any elder who takes an interest in or who patronizes a younger Kindred. Sort of a vampiric sugar daddy.

Valentine: 1. A Kindred who uses his powers to achieve mortal celebrity, often in violation of the Masquerade. 2. The mortal lover of a Kindred, usually the source of much angst.

Vector: Vampire who spreads mortal diseases; so called because the DCD has taken an interest in the way in which blood-based diseases have been spreading.

Vlad: A Kindred who acts in stereotypically "vampiric" fashion. Vlads usually wear capes, flaunt their powers, and speak in strained Eastern European accents. Few last very long.

Whack Job: Malkavian, or a victim of Dementation.

Wolfie: A vampire, often a Gangrel, who prefers spending time in a non-human shape.

Yawp: The claims of a prince or other Kindred who can't hold his territory.


Old Form

Autarkis: An anarch or other lawless vampire. Specifically used by elders to refer to those rebels who took part in the Anarch Revolt.

Becoming, the: The Embrace.

Blood: Not vitae, but rather a Kindred's lineage, and heritage. Many Kindred refer to themselves as being "of the Blood" of a particularly notable ancestor. For example, some of the most prominent Ventrue proudly declare themselves to be "of the Blood of Hardestadt."

Carthagos: Archaic form of Carthage. Any city that a vampire considers to be an exalted or special place.

Diaspora: The dispersal of elders from their lands in Europe, remembered bitterly by many American elders. Also used to describe the exile of vampires from the Second City.

Fall, the: The Anarch Revolt, considered by many elders to be the first step on the road to Gehenna.

Fealty: Another name for the blood bond.

Jus Noctis: Literally, "the law of the night." In practice, the authority a Kindred has over her childer until she grants them their freedom as responsible members of the Camarilla. Under the Jus Noctis, a sire is totally responsible for her childer's actions until she releases them.

Jyhad: The great game played by the Antediluvians amongst themselves, in which all younger Kindred fear they are merely pawns to be moved about the board.

Kiss, the: The act of taking blood from a mortal. In some cases the term has also grown to mean the Embrace.

Labyrinth: A particularly well-fortified or ancient haven.

Nemesis: The Sabbat. More generically, a vampire with whom another Kindred has had a rivalry extending across centuries.

Noddist: Of or relating to vampiric legend. Also, a vampire who studies such lore.

Pax: A formal truce between two elders or clans. Often the name of the Kindred who brokered the peace is attached to the term.

Praxis: The right of a prince to rule. Often extended to mean legitimate authority.

Pueri: A derisive term for childer.

Promethean: A thief or other undesirable. Often used to refer to elders of the Sabbat, as opposed to the street-level rabble.

Siren: A vampire who seduces mortals in order to feed on them, but who does not kill his prey.

Somnus: Antediluvian. More generally, any ancient and powerful Kindred rumored to be asleep beneath a city.

Vessel: A mortal, often one intended for feeding.

Whelp: A neonate or young vampire. In practice, any Kindred younger than the speaker.

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