Post by Admin on Apr 21, 2016 19:56:45 GMT
The Hand Opens
As word of the seraphim’s decision spread, an out-pouring of dissent came from almost all of the younger members. Actively recruit Brujah? Giovanni? Tremere? As more voices joined the clamor protesting the decision, it seemed the Tal’Mahe’Ra would destroy itself with squabbling. Surprisingly, the voice of reason came from the Harbingers of Skulls, who for reasons of their own almost unanimously stated that they didn’t give a rat’s ass about the Giovanni anymore, and neither should the rest of the Tal’Mahe’Ra.
With strong vertebrae removed from the backbone of their argument, the loudest Kindred backed down from outright rebellion. It took several more years before recruit-ment officially opened, and the first non-traditional Clan member, a Tremere antitribu, was inducted into the Sect.
Opened recruitment remains a sore point for many elders of the Tal’Mahe’Ra, however. The Harbingers might have decided to be apathetic towards the Giovanni, but the True Brujah have no love for their bastard cousins, and it’s laughable to expect any Kindred to welcome the Lasombra with open arms. The Old Clan Tzimisce does not hate its bastard cousins; it simply pities them. Though there are more prospective members on the docket for recruitment, several of those have been challenged by elders, and none are likely to have an easy induction or probationary period.
By and large, the Sect moved on. Elders argued, but only so far. After all, isn’t the desired end game, the result, all worth some compromise? Many potential recruits were young enough to have no idea of the truths behind their grandsires’ past offenses.
The Hand behind the Curtain
The Camarilla is both the easiest and the most difficult Sect to infiltrate, and Tal’Mahe’Ra agents enjoy varying degrees of success in their missions. In all the ways that count, the Camarilla is the bastard love-child of meritoc-racy and aristocracy, and the Tal’Mahe’Ra have become masters of gaming the system to achieve power within the Sect’s political structure.
Several seraphim sit as Princes of entire cities, and el-ders hold a variety of positions as Primogen, Sheriffs, and other minor roles, but they didn’t gain those positions easily or quickly. Each Tal’Mahe’Ra agent infiltrated the Sect at the lowest level, and spent decades or centuries working their way up the ladder to achieve their power legitimately. One seraph in recent years has achieved the pinnacle of success, and now sits on the Inner Council of the Camarilla as a Justicar.
Tal’Mahe’Ra agents carefully monitor the Camarilla dismissal of the Antediluvians as fairy tales and urban legends. What to do about it remains a point of contention within the Tal’Mahe’Ra. Some agents sow seeds of doubt in their cities, attempting to entice Kindred to the cults. They seek an end to Camarilla abuses by attempting to topple the corrupt Sect from inside, using its own mem-bers. Other agents foster Camarilla ignorance, nurturing and reinforcing the disbelief. The Antediluvians will have to feed when they wake, after all. What better feast than a population of weak-minded, strong-blooded vampires caught unprepared?
No matter what their agenda, all agents within the Camarilla work to maintain maximum conflict with the Sabbat. Though the Camarilla grew independently of Tal’Mahe’Ra influence, it is an important tool in main-taining a delicate balance in the eternal war between Sects. This means that agents within the Camarilla must move very carefully, lest their actions tip their enemies off.
At least three times in recent decades, the Tal’Mahe’Ra has had to burn agents due to overreaching ambition and slips of attention. Despite these precautions, sev-eral Princes and two Justicars have become suspicious enough to begin investigations. To date, no evidence of a grand conspiracy has surfaced, but it may only be a matter of time before something incriminating comes to light.
The Hand behind the Sabbat
If the Camarilla is a sword to the Tal’Mahe’Ra, the Sabbat is their iron club. Not all Sabbat vampires are reveling shov-elheads, but there is a definite lack of constraint found only within these ranks. The Tal’Mahe’Ra was instrumental in the formation of the Sabbat centuries ago, and has infiltrated the Sect at all levels of power and influence, including at least two Archbishops and a Cardinal.
The Sabbat consists of over a dozen Clans and bloodlines, but the two backbone Clans of the Sect make navigating the politics far trickier. Tzimisce and Lasombra do not outnumber the Brujah and Gangrel antitribu, or the Caitiff for that matter, but are far more influential than any of the other lineages. The Tal’Mahe’Ra has long loathed both Clans for past sins and their base natures. The Lasombra are unapologetic and patricidal; at present, only their antitribu — those who protested and stood against their Founder’s destruction, and which the Lasombra mercilessly hunt into extinction — have proven worthy of Tal’Mahe’Ra induction. The Tal’Mahe’Ra is very strict on diablerie; those Tremere responsible for the destruc-tion of the Salubri, elder Giovanni who diablerized their Cappadocian kin, any who took part in the diablerie or destruction of an Antediluvian, or those who regularly commit unjustified diablerie are forbidden membership. More than anything, the Hand’s regulations on diablerie have seen only a scant few Sabbat gain True-Hand member-ship — there is a distinction between reclaiming the blood of traitors and the unworthy to strengthen loyal members and unrestrained bloodlust. The most dangerous of the Sect’s enemies are listed in the Tabula Adversa, a catalog of information secured in Enoch. Members of the Sabbat make up a full two-thirds of the list, with elder Tremere, Giovanni, Followers of Set, and certain Brujah responsible for the Anarch Revolts filling out the rest.
Recruitment from Sabbat Cainites should be easier to manage, but recruiters often have just as difficult a time identifying suitable candidates as their Camarilla coun-terparts. Kindred collect bad habits as they move through the centuries, no matter their personal ideology, and the Sabbat’s view of humanity as cattle to use and abuse at whim is one of the larger deterrents in candidate selection. Some within the Tal’Mahe’Ra sweep this fact under the rug. After all, when it comes to the apocalypse, the ends justify the means, right? Critics say that the Sabbat may be a useful tool, but its behavior towards mortal stock could prove a detriment after the inevitable drop in population after the End Times. These critics note that the Sabbat could be a boon, but plans must be in place to eliminate them once they’ve outlived their usefulness.
The saving grace for the Tal’Mahe’Ra is the freedom to seed twigs and branches of their main cults throughout the Sabbat. These groups are small, comprised of loyal and pious agents, who present diverse public faces to the Sabbat. Some are doomsday prophets, warning of the in-evitability of Gehenna. Some are cults of philosophy and introspection, promulgating the Path of Death and the Soul and the Path of Lilith. One tiny, heretical cult teaches of the unification of Bloody Mother and Dark Father. Others are philosophical or political groups, targeting those who question and doubt the status quo, enticing them into debate and rhetoric. No matter how they appear on the surface, every cult spread throughout the Sabbat has the same mission: to ensure they have fingers in the enemy camp. The Sword of Caine seeks to make war on the Antediluvians. When Gehenna arrives, the Sabbat will undoubtedly prove the main force of opposition.
The Other Black Hand
The existence of the False Hand within the Sabbat is an open secret of Kindred society, but little else about it is known. Even most members of the Sabbat remain in the dark about its doctrines and policies. Because of this, Sabbat leaders are wary of it, and some seek its destruction.
Tal’Mahe’Ra members of the False Hand surreptitiously nurture this wariness into fear and paranoia. This way, the Sabbat keeps a check on the False Hand, the False Hand keeps a check on the Sabbat, and the Tal’Mahe’Ra is free to move unimpeded. The best place to hide is in plain sight, and the False Hand is a vital tool in the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s arsenal.
Despite the True Hand’s precautions, some of the more powerful non-Tal’Mahe’Ra members of the False Hand suspect and actively seek spies and manipulators in their midst. Circumstantial evidence has surfaced that the half-dozen newest packs within the False Hand may be more than they appear. Several particularly perceptive Cainites have reported the packs for unusual attitudes or actions that seem a trifle off-kilter; being the Sabbat, these reports are normally dismissed, but not all are so easily fooled by appearances and coincidences.
On the surface, these packs appear nomadic, but each one is comprised of five of the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s most fanatical members, all sworn to the dictates of one True Hand seraph gone rogue. The activities of all these packs are off-the-record, and tracking them individually will prove fruitless. However, if observed as a whole, the irregularities show instances of overall Cainite strength in a region waning in the long-run by the presence of these packs in a territory. When scaled, what seems arbitrary and random at the municipal level hints at an inter-connectivity and tactical strategy that, if investigated, the Tal’Mahe’Ra fears may hit a little too close to home.
The Hand Unaligned
With no central ideology and code of behavior binding them together, the independent Clans present a unique challenge to Tal’Mahe’Ra spies and recruiters. Each Clan requires a unique approach, based on a complex assortment of conditions including the ultimate goal of the agent, internal structure, history, personality of individual Kindred, and the Clan and personality of the agent approaching them.
The Hand in Anarchy
The Anarch Movement has been a thorn in the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s side since its inception. Though it helped birth the Sabbat, it is far from a recognized Sect, leading some Hand elders to dismiss the movement as a fad that will soon pass. However, others see the birthing pangs of a Sect in action, and have been quick to get in on the ground floor. With little overall hierarchy, carving out personal areas of influence and power bases is far simpler than in the Sabbat or Camarilla, but the lack of command structure carries drawbacks as well, making it more diffi-cult to infiltrate the power blocs of non-Hand Kindred.
The Anarch Movement is unlikely to produce any viable candidates for recruitment, though agents keep watch on the few individuals with potential. By and large, the Movement is regarded as a fringe-group breeding pit for weak-blooded and Clanless vampires. No one of sufficient power or influence is expected to arise out of it. Still, even the harbingers of Gehenna have their use. Embedded agents plan to use the Movement as a third option to maintain the delicate balance of politics and ideology between the Camarilla and the Sabbat.
The Eastern Hand
From the shadows of the Potala and Norbulinka palaces, to the gilt roof of the Jokhang temple, Lhasa is the cul-tural heart and soul of Tibet, as well as the Tal’Mahe’Ra in Asia. The East has proven to be a difficult region in which to gain a foothold, and the agents dispatched to keep watch over it are so disconnected from the main body of the Tal’Mahe’Ra as to be an entirely different Hand altogether. Though they answer to the will of the Del’Roh, they conceal their rituals and policies from their peers, and only a single seraphim oversees them.
The Asian Hand’s hierarchy is rigid, placing less im-portance on personal gain and more on devotion to the whole. Each vampire within knows their place in the order of things, and those who step beyond the bounds of that place are dealt with decisively.
This division is deeply connected with the mortals of the region, and the Tal’Mahe’Ra take a more active role in the kine’s daily lives. The Asian Hand are believed to receive advice from oracles and scholars called Yaoguai. Reports state that they view the Caine and Lilith myths as mostly Western propaganda and largely false; a monomyth, like any religion, using baseless fear as a tool of control and existing as an underlying system of domination to distract younger vampires away from the manipulations of their elders. It’s believed they trust that Antediluvians exist, but think them far from anything that fits into a convenient Judeo-Christian mythos with an appendage pantheon to justify Western Clan dominance and groupings.
The African Hand
Like the Hand in Asia, the Tal’Mahe’Ra of Africa is a tiny, isolationist division that does not share its secrets with the main body of the Sect. Some believe one seraph inhabits its ranks, but many know that the Hand in Africa is not overseen by a seraph at all, but a triumvirate of elders who interpret the Del’Roh’s will as they see fit.
The main purpose of this division is to keep watch on the Camarilla, Giovanni, and Sabbat presences in Africa, thwart the schemes of the Setites, and to gain information on Africa’s mysterious and insular Laibon vampires. Diplomatic relations with the Hand have ever been an unfortunate necessity for the Followers of Set, and no place proves that more than North Africa. In effort to quell the kine and stabilize the region following the Arab Spring uprisings, Followers of Set were forced to make concessions to the True Brujah. To vouchsafe greater Tunisia, the Setites relinquished their toehold in Carthage in exchange for assistance in pacifying the mortals. The glory days of Carthage are long passed, but nostalgia can be a powerful sedative.
The African Hand does not often take a combative role in the region’s affairs, making it the most passive division of the Tal’Mahe’Ra. The loose hierarchy largely leaves its members to their own devices. As a result, many blood cults have sprung up under Tal’Mahe’Ra guidance, which provide a steady supply of blood, retainers, agents, spies, and informants to their masters.
The Inconnu
Despite the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s best efforts, there isn’t a lot of verifiable information available on the strange, mysterious group known only as the Inconnu. At best, they are limited to the Monitors, who watch without interfering in vampiric affairs. At worst, they are as ancient and unseen as the Tal’Mahe’Ra, manipulating the Camarilla, Sabbat, independent Clans, and perhaps even the Black Hand itself for unknown purposes. While the possibility of the latter being true concerns the seraphim greatly, winnowing out the intentions of the Inconnu is only a minor priority. The seraphim divert personnel and resources to fact-finding missions as opportunities arise, but only where it will not disrupt vital tasks of the Silent Agenda.
Mages
The only true mage the average Tal’Mahe’Ra vampire is likely to interact with on a regular basis is a Tal’Mahe’Ra yamasattva or an Itarajana which shapes their outlook on other kinds of mages. The Sect as a whole is certainly aware of other mages: the Lilin Verbena introduced the concept of blood familiars to the Sect. But the world of the Awakened is largely uninterested in the Tal’Mahe’Ra, and the majority of those with a more sorcerous bent within the Sect are commonly limited to interactions with hedge-wizards of the Rafastio family and the remaining yamasattva of the Idran.
Lupines
With the exception of the pathetic wretches called Abominations, the Tal’Mahe’Ra deals little with the lupines of the wilds. While agents occasionally run into shapeshifters within city limits, they rarely pose a threat. The Lupines’ agenda seems entirely separate from that of the Tal’Mahe’Ra, and the Sect likes it that way.
Wraiths
The Tal’Mahe’Ra collectively knows more about ghosts than almost any other Kindred agency, save the Giovanni. Agents traveling to Enoch are likely to encounter several in their travels, and it is rumored that several of the blood cults boast wraithly members. The Non-Aggression Treaty of Neall remains in place in modern nights, and though they are not official inductees into the Sect, several wraiths are on semi-permanent retainer for information and guide purposes.
Mortals
The Society of Leopold is a reminder of a time many elder vampires of the Tal’Mahe’Ra do not usually like to remember: the Inquisition. Though only mortal, many hunters belonging to the Society seem imbued with an uncanny ability to sniff out vampires, no matter where they hide. The Sect has attempted in the past, through Sabbat and False Hand pawns, to destroy the Society of Leopold, but to no avail. Agents are advised to avoid mortal inquisitors at all costs, and flee if avoidance is impossible.
As word of the seraphim’s decision spread, an out-pouring of dissent came from almost all of the younger members. Actively recruit Brujah? Giovanni? Tremere? As more voices joined the clamor protesting the decision, it seemed the Tal’Mahe’Ra would destroy itself with squabbling. Surprisingly, the voice of reason came from the Harbingers of Skulls, who for reasons of their own almost unanimously stated that they didn’t give a rat’s ass about the Giovanni anymore, and neither should the rest of the Tal’Mahe’Ra.
With strong vertebrae removed from the backbone of their argument, the loudest Kindred backed down from outright rebellion. It took several more years before recruit-ment officially opened, and the first non-traditional Clan member, a Tremere antitribu, was inducted into the Sect.
Opened recruitment remains a sore point for many elders of the Tal’Mahe’Ra, however. The Harbingers might have decided to be apathetic towards the Giovanni, but the True Brujah have no love for their bastard cousins, and it’s laughable to expect any Kindred to welcome the Lasombra with open arms. The Old Clan Tzimisce does not hate its bastard cousins; it simply pities them. Though there are more prospective members on the docket for recruitment, several of those have been challenged by elders, and none are likely to have an easy induction or probationary period.
By and large, the Sect moved on. Elders argued, but only so far. After all, isn’t the desired end game, the result, all worth some compromise? Many potential recruits were young enough to have no idea of the truths behind their grandsires’ past offenses.
The Hand behind the Curtain
The Camarilla is both the easiest and the most difficult Sect to infiltrate, and Tal’Mahe’Ra agents enjoy varying degrees of success in their missions. In all the ways that count, the Camarilla is the bastard love-child of meritoc-racy and aristocracy, and the Tal’Mahe’Ra have become masters of gaming the system to achieve power within the Sect’s political structure.
Several seraphim sit as Princes of entire cities, and el-ders hold a variety of positions as Primogen, Sheriffs, and other minor roles, but they didn’t gain those positions easily or quickly. Each Tal’Mahe’Ra agent infiltrated the Sect at the lowest level, and spent decades or centuries working their way up the ladder to achieve their power legitimately. One seraph in recent years has achieved the pinnacle of success, and now sits on the Inner Council of the Camarilla as a Justicar.
Tal’Mahe’Ra agents carefully monitor the Camarilla dismissal of the Antediluvians as fairy tales and urban legends. What to do about it remains a point of contention within the Tal’Mahe’Ra. Some agents sow seeds of doubt in their cities, attempting to entice Kindred to the cults. They seek an end to Camarilla abuses by attempting to topple the corrupt Sect from inside, using its own mem-bers. Other agents foster Camarilla ignorance, nurturing and reinforcing the disbelief. The Antediluvians will have to feed when they wake, after all. What better feast than a population of weak-minded, strong-blooded vampires caught unprepared?
No matter what their agenda, all agents within the Camarilla work to maintain maximum conflict with the Sabbat. Though the Camarilla grew independently of Tal’Mahe’Ra influence, it is an important tool in main-taining a delicate balance in the eternal war between Sects. This means that agents within the Camarilla must move very carefully, lest their actions tip their enemies off.
At least three times in recent decades, the Tal’Mahe’Ra has had to burn agents due to overreaching ambition and slips of attention. Despite these precautions, sev-eral Princes and two Justicars have become suspicious enough to begin investigations. To date, no evidence of a grand conspiracy has surfaced, but it may only be a matter of time before something incriminating comes to light.
The Hand behind the Sabbat
If the Camarilla is a sword to the Tal’Mahe’Ra, the Sabbat is their iron club. Not all Sabbat vampires are reveling shov-elheads, but there is a definite lack of constraint found only within these ranks. The Tal’Mahe’Ra was instrumental in the formation of the Sabbat centuries ago, and has infiltrated the Sect at all levels of power and influence, including at least two Archbishops and a Cardinal.
The Sabbat consists of over a dozen Clans and bloodlines, but the two backbone Clans of the Sect make navigating the politics far trickier. Tzimisce and Lasombra do not outnumber the Brujah and Gangrel antitribu, or the Caitiff for that matter, but are far more influential than any of the other lineages. The Tal’Mahe’Ra has long loathed both Clans for past sins and their base natures. The Lasombra are unapologetic and patricidal; at present, only their antitribu — those who protested and stood against their Founder’s destruction, and which the Lasombra mercilessly hunt into extinction — have proven worthy of Tal’Mahe’Ra induction. The Tal’Mahe’Ra is very strict on diablerie; those Tremere responsible for the destruc-tion of the Salubri, elder Giovanni who diablerized their Cappadocian kin, any who took part in the diablerie or destruction of an Antediluvian, or those who regularly commit unjustified diablerie are forbidden membership. More than anything, the Hand’s regulations on diablerie have seen only a scant few Sabbat gain True-Hand member-ship — there is a distinction between reclaiming the blood of traitors and the unworthy to strengthen loyal members and unrestrained bloodlust. The most dangerous of the Sect’s enemies are listed in the Tabula Adversa, a catalog of information secured in Enoch. Members of the Sabbat make up a full two-thirds of the list, with elder Tremere, Giovanni, Followers of Set, and certain Brujah responsible for the Anarch Revolts filling out the rest.
Recruitment from Sabbat Cainites should be easier to manage, but recruiters often have just as difficult a time identifying suitable candidates as their Camarilla coun-terparts. Kindred collect bad habits as they move through the centuries, no matter their personal ideology, and the Sabbat’s view of humanity as cattle to use and abuse at whim is one of the larger deterrents in candidate selection. Some within the Tal’Mahe’Ra sweep this fact under the rug. After all, when it comes to the apocalypse, the ends justify the means, right? Critics say that the Sabbat may be a useful tool, but its behavior towards mortal stock could prove a detriment after the inevitable drop in population after the End Times. These critics note that the Sabbat could be a boon, but plans must be in place to eliminate them once they’ve outlived their usefulness.
The saving grace for the Tal’Mahe’Ra is the freedom to seed twigs and branches of their main cults throughout the Sabbat. These groups are small, comprised of loyal and pious agents, who present diverse public faces to the Sabbat. Some are doomsday prophets, warning of the in-evitability of Gehenna. Some are cults of philosophy and introspection, promulgating the Path of Death and the Soul and the Path of Lilith. One tiny, heretical cult teaches of the unification of Bloody Mother and Dark Father. Others are philosophical or political groups, targeting those who question and doubt the status quo, enticing them into debate and rhetoric. No matter how they appear on the surface, every cult spread throughout the Sabbat has the same mission: to ensure they have fingers in the enemy camp. The Sword of Caine seeks to make war on the Antediluvians. When Gehenna arrives, the Sabbat will undoubtedly prove the main force of opposition.
The Other Black Hand
The existence of the False Hand within the Sabbat is an open secret of Kindred society, but little else about it is known. Even most members of the Sabbat remain in the dark about its doctrines and policies. Because of this, Sabbat leaders are wary of it, and some seek its destruction.
Tal’Mahe’Ra members of the False Hand surreptitiously nurture this wariness into fear and paranoia. This way, the Sabbat keeps a check on the False Hand, the False Hand keeps a check on the Sabbat, and the Tal’Mahe’Ra is free to move unimpeded. The best place to hide is in plain sight, and the False Hand is a vital tool in the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s arsenal.
Despite the True Hand’s precautions, some of the more powerful non-Tal’Mahe’Ra members of the False Hand suspect and actively seek spies and manipulators in their midst. Circumstantial evidence has surfaced that the half-dozen newest packs within the False Hand may be more than they appear. Several particularly perceptive Cainites have reported the packs for unusual attitudes or actions that seem a trifle off-kilter; being the Sabbat, these reports are normally dismissed, but not all are so easily fooled by appearances and coincidences.
On the surface, these packs appear nomadic, but each one is comprised of five of the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s most fanatical members, all sworn to the dictates of one True Hand seraph gone rogue. The activities of all these packs are off-the-record, and tracking them individually will prove fruitless. However, if observed as a whole, the irregularities show instances of overall Cainite strength in a region waning in the long-run by the presence of these packs in a territory. When scaled, what seems arbitrary and random at the municipal level hints at an inter-connectivity and tactical strategy that, if investigated, the Tal’Mahe’Ra fears may hit a little too close to home.
The Hand Unaligned
With no central ideology and code of behavior binding them together, the independent Clans present a unique challenge to Tal’Mahe’Ra spies and recruiters. Each Clan requires a unique approach, based on a complex assortment of conditions including the ultimate goal of the agent, internal structure, history, personality of individual Kindred, and the Clan and personality of the agent approaching them.
The Hand in Anarchy
The Anarch Movement has been a thorn in the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s side since its inception. Though it helped birth the Sabbat, it is far from a recognized Sect, leading some Hand elders to dismiss the movement as a fad that will soon pass. However, others see the birthing pangs of a Sect in action, and have been quick to get in on the ground floor. With little overall hierarchy, carving out personal areas of influence and power bases is far simpler than in the Sabbat or Camarilla, but the lack of command structure carries drawbacks as well, making it more diffi-cult to infiltrate the power blocs of non-Hand Kindred.
The Anarch Movement is unlikely to produce any viable candidates for recruitment, though agents keep watch on the few individuals with potential. By and large, the Movement is regarded as a fringe-group breeding pit for weak-blooded and Clanless vampires. No one of sufficient power or influence is expected to arise out of it. Still, even the harbingers of Gehenna have their use. Embedded agents plan to use the Movement as a third option to maintain the delicate balance of politics and ideology between the Camarilla and the Sabbat.
The Eastern Hand
From the shadows of the Potala and Norbulinka palaces, to the gilt roof of the Jokhang temple, Lhasa is the cul-tural heart and soul of Tibet, as well as the Tal’Mahe’Ra in Asia. The East has proven to be a difficult region in which to gain a foothold, and the agents dispatched to keep watch over it are so disconnected from the main body of the Tal’Mahe’Ra as to be an entirely different Hand altogether. Though they answer to the will of the Del’Roh, they conceal their rituals and policies from their peers, and only a single seraphim oversees them.
The Asian Hand’s hierarchy is rigid, placing less im-portance on personal gain and more on devotion to the whole. Each vampire within knows their place in the order of things, and those who step beyond the bounds of that place are dealt with decisively.
This division is deeply connected with the mortals of the region, and the Tal’Mahe’Ra take a more active role in the kine’s daily lives. The Asian Hand are believed to receive advice from oracles and scholars called Yaoguai. Reports state that they view the Caine and Lilith myths as mostly Western propaganda and largely false; a monomyth, like any religion, using baseless fear as a tool of control and existing as an underlying system of domination to distract younger vampires away from the manipulations of their elders. It’s believed they trust that Antediluvians exist, but think them far from anything that fits into a convenient Judeo-Christian mythos with an appendage pantheon to justify Western Clan dominance and groupings.
The African Hand
Like the Hand in Asia, the Tal’Mahe’Ra of Africa is a tiny, isolationist division that does not share its secrets with the main body of the Sect. Some believe one seraph inhabits its ranks, but many know that the Hand in Africa is not overseen by a seraph at all, but a triumvirate of elders who interpret the Del’Roh’s will as they see fit.
The main purpose of this division is to keep watch on the Camarilla, Giovanni, and Sabbat presences in Africa, thwart the schemes of the Setites, and to gain information on Africa’s mysterious and insular Laibon vampires. Diplomatic relations with the Hand have ever been an unfortunate necessity for the Followers of Set, and no place proves that more than North Africa. In effort to quell the kine and stabilize the region following the Arab Spring uprisings, Followers of Set were forced to make concessions to the True Brujah. To vouchsafe greater Tunisia, the Setites relinquished their toehold in Carthage in exchange for assistance in pacifying the mortals. The glory days of Carthage are long passed, but nostalgia can be a powerful sedative.
The African Hand does not often take a combative role in the region’s affairs, making it the most passive division of the Tal’Mahe’Ra. The loose hierarchy largely leaves its members to their own devices. As a result, many blood cults have sprung up under Tal’Mahe’Ra guidance, which provide a steady supply of blood, retainers, agents, spies, and informants to their masters.
The Inconnu
Despite the Tal’Mahe’Ra’s best efforts, there isn’t a lot of verifiable information available on the strange, mysterious group known only as the Inconnu. At best, they are limited to the Monitors, who watch without interfering in vampiric affairs. At worst, they are as ancient and unseen as the Tal’Mahe’Ra, manipulating the Camarilla, Sabbat, independent Clans, and perhaps even the Black Hand itself for unknown purposes. While the possibility of the latter being true concerns the seraphim greatly, winnowing out the intentions of the Inconnu is only a minor priority. The seraphim divert personnel and resources to fact-finding missions as opportunities arise, but only where it will not disrupt vital tasks of the Silent Agenda.
Mages
The only true mage the average Tal’Mahe’Ra vampire is likely to interact with on a regular basis is a Tal’Mahe’Ra yamasattva or an Itarajana which shapes their outlook on other kinds of mages. The Sect as a whole is certainly aware of other mages: the Lilin Verbena introduced the concept of blood familiars to the Sect. But the world of the Awakened is largely uninterested in the Tal’Mahe’Ra, and the majority of those with a more sorcerous bent within the Sect are commonly limited to interactions with hedge-wizards of the Rafastio family and the remaining yamasattva of the Idran.
Lupines
With the exception of the pathetic wretches called Abominations, the Tal’Mahe’Ra deals little with the lupines of the wilds. While agents occasionally run into shapeshifters within city limits, they rarely pose a threat. The Lupines’ agenda seems entirely separate from that of the Tal’Mahe’Ra, and the Sect likes it that way.
Wraiths
The Tal’Mahe’Ra collectively knows more about ghosts than almost any other Kindred agency, save the Giovanni. Agents traveling to Enoch are likely to encounter several in their travels, and it is rumored that several of the blood cults boast wraithly members. The Non-Aggression Treaty of Neall remains in place in modern nights, and though they are not official inductees into the Sect, several wraiths are on semi-permanent retainer for information and guide purposes.
Mortals
The Society of Leopold is a reminder of a time many elder vampires of the Tal’Mahe’Ra do not usually like to remember: the Inquisition. Though only mortal, many hunters belonging to the Society seem imbued with an uncanny ability to sniff out vampires, no matter where they hide. The Sect has attempted in the past, through Sabbat and False Hand pawns, to destroy the Society of Leopold, but to no avail. Agents are advised to avoid mortal inquisitors at all costs, and flee if avoidance is impossible.