Carthian Movement

The Carthian Movement (Formally known as The Commonwealth of Carthage, and the Anarch Movement respectively) is in these nights, comprised mostly of neonates and ancillae bound together by one overriding concern: Fear. Whether it is fear of their elders, or of the rapid advance of technology, Carthians believe that, in order to survive in the new age of the twenty-first century, they must adapt and change the way things have always been done among the Kindred. This makes them a danger to elder kindred who rule by enforcing the idea that age is power, that the established order is not to be questioned.
Carthians domains are run quite differently from the domains controlled by the Camarilla or Sabbat. They have adopted many aspects of mortal government, such as Democracy, and the newer social innovations of mortal society. The Carthian ideal espouses every member having a voice, and everyone contributing to the betterment of all. The popular catch phrase among the covenant is: "Whatever it takes."
The Carthian Movement has no use for the Jyhad. The Movement is secular, and as such, mythology about ancients rising up from the ground and consuming their childer is just a bit Old Testament for the modern world. The Kindred have real problems: Lupine attacks, vampire hunters, Sabbat incursions, but also more mundane issues like the over-crowding of cities and the spread of disease. Shouldn’t these things occupy more of the Kindred’s attention?
And besides, even if the End Times are coming, by entering into a blood war with other Kindred, aren’t the undead just playing right into the Antediluvians’ hands? Centuries of social and scientific progress have shown that there are better ways to approach such problems than by whispered prophecies and other such madness.
Carthians tend to cleave more closely to their mortal pasts than other vampires. This tendency, along with their willingness to work together against the oppression of the elders gives them a unique advantage and allows them to interact more effectively in mortal society which can provide them vast networks of mortal contacts and allies.
==Carthian History, and Organization.==
Carthian History can be divided into two parts.
====The Anarch Movement====
The movement had its origins back during the Anarch Revolt but that split off into vastly different territory after the surrender at the Convention of Thrones and the formation of the Sabbat. It was more the idea of a more egalitarian kindred society that lived on and led too those who would brand themselves as "Anarchs" during the American and French revolutions, fighting along side kine against a kindred backed bourgeoisie.
After this Anarch cells began popping up in domains across the Camarilla, the cells weren't connected to one another but rather individuals who had heard the tales and held similar beliefs. Vampire philosophers began wearing the title on Anarch. These kindred were eclectic, diverse, with only some actually believing in true anarchism. They were eclectic, bohemian, diverse. They argues and toyed with ideals from things like Marxism and Stalanism, to modern Capitalism.
====The Rebranding====
Ever since the revolt, more forward thinking brujah ancilea who had surrendered that the council of thorns had been waiting for the chance to rise again. Something to latch onto.
Their opportunity came in the aftermath of the first great war. The Movement makes its big rise not with the founding of America but with the shattering of Europe in the Great War. They picked up a lot of pieces, climbed up on rubble and rushed in to fill vacuums formed by destroyed and torpid Kindred. It was at this time that a traveling Brujah who went only by the name of "Tucker" began expounding the need for the movement to embrace modern communications technology to connect cells within the city. He began to spread the idea of re-branding the movement from the "Anarchs" to the "Carthians," drawing on the idea of old Carthage. Even creating a new logo. The Anarchs shrugged off the title which had caused confusion since the beginning, and across the western world became the Carthian Movement.
Although the seeds of the Carthian Movement may go back to the likes of Martin Luther and the French Revolution, the Carthian Movement’s distinct history begins in the 1800s with the radical thinkers. Certainly, the Carthians look back on the likes of Jefferson and Franklin for inspiration, but those people weren’t vampires, weren’t manipulated by vampires and weren’t the initial inspiration for the Carthians. The philosophical crucible of industrialized Europe and a million sudden, tragic opportunities made the gardens where the Carthian seed bore fruit. This notion of modernism spreads into Carthian art and style, as well. The Anarchs shrugged off the title which had caused confusion since the beggining, and across the western world became the Carthian Movment.
Over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries the Movment has grown in numbers, power, and territory. Taking some domains across North America and Europe. For awhile Carthians of the Communist bent controled much of Russia, this obviously changed in 1990, but since the death of Baba yaga the Covenant has been trying to pick up the peices and raceing against the Camarilla to do so.
However the domain of most note is all of those are all of those from San Francisco south to Los Angeles which became known as the Carthian Free State in the 1940s. However the various domains soon split, with some reverting back to a more Anarch "No rules are necessary" mindset. Carthian leadership (such as it was) in these domains ceased talking to each other and while many stuck to their ideal others wormed in to take power and become "Barons" ruling over domains in a way not unlike a standard Camarilla Prince would.
All of this fracturing lead to So-Cal being easy pickings for the Kuei-Jin when they arrived in 1998 to establish dominion over first the Free State and eventually all of the west coast. San Francisco and surrounding domains fell easily with Los Angeles still a battlefield today.
In 2010 the Carthian Movement has a renewed vigor, the flipping of The Cage and New Orleans into Carthian cities has served as a huge symbolic victory and reinvigorated the fight. Seattle is a city cut directly down the middle between Carthian and Camarilla, while the front in Southern California has seen new effort and headway made, partially in thanks to a new leadership heading the front for the entire state, and emphasis on Domain to Domain support.
==Carthian Beleifs and Philosophies==
Carthians are always adapting and are shockingly open minded. The movment is nothing if not modern, and they love to explore modern ideals and use modern toys. Older Carthians may not keep up with mortal trends, but they don’t really think of themselves as being too good for mortal ways. As mortal society moves forward, the Carthians follow behind it like cultural buzzards, feeding off the herd.
Carthians are divided, not disorganized. There are any number of different political beliefs which effect how a city should be run, all of them based on some facet of mortal polital science. There may be great debate between individual Carthians, and generally Carthian groups in each city tend to pick a set political style and run with it, but that does not necessarily speak for the hearts and minds of everyone involved. The Carthians are orderly. The Carthians love orders and systems. They believe in systems of governments rather than individuals of power. Carthians salute the office, for example, while the other kindred salute the individual.
The Carthian Movement is secular. The great experiment of the Carthians is political and secular, but not all Carthians are. You’ll see that the Carthian Movement isn’t inherently opposed to the Lancea Sanctum or the Circle of the Crone. What’s important to remember here, though, is that a Carthian vampire is seldom just a Carthian. It’s not as if he dwells in the Carthian Castle on Mount Marx in Democracyville.
The Carthians come from, and influence, all walks. The Carthians are not necessarily the young whelps in the war of ages, though the Camarilla certainly thinks of them as such. They aren’t (always) bomb-tossing, anarchist weirdbeards. They’re liberal thinkers and political experimenters, but they aren’t all young. One only has to look to a kindred like Deliah, or Smiling Jack to see that while Neonates make up the bulk of the Movement in the modern nights, many ancillae do as well.
==The Anarch Counter-Revolutions==
Among the Carthians most cling to a political ideal, a great deal in north America fight for a total or representative democracy. Believing that with a system of checks and balances in place a more modern form of governance can work for the any Kindred domain. Most believe that laws exists for a reason, that the Masquerade must be enforced. That the murder of another kindred should be treated with swift justice.
Some do not. Some believe that the rules are obvious. That the community can sort out masquerade violations, they don't need to call it some fancy name, they don't need a sheriff. In fact, they don't need any political structure at all. Screw the man, live and let live. Anarchy. Anarchy. Everything will work out fine.
Of course when the war against the 800 year old ventrue prince is being waged these kindred generally fall in line with the rest of the movement, but after that prince is either in torpor, ash, or on train to another city? well, then all bets are off.
This occured in several cities across Southern California in the 40s. Carthians would sweep in, depose the leadership, send them packing, but then as a new government was being set up a mod would rush the Elysium, declare the government void and force the city to go true Anarchist at gunpoint. But even when this didn't occur, smaller groups of Carthians with anarchist bents would gather together and plot against their new government, not quite satified, and willing to throw pipe bombs until they were.
Some within Portland's movement suspect that this was one of the reasons Deliah was so hesitant to begin her revolution. That as soon as they had won the younger, independent kindred of the city would swoop in, cause a bunch of damage, and cease to obey any governance. Its thought that this was partly why Deliah was so willing to allow Fabienne and her administration to remain.
==Membership==
The Carthian movment does not descriminate when it comes to membership, that being said certain clans are of course more common, and others not found at all. Although the movment has the reputation of being nothing but angry neonates, not a a kindred more then 30 years, and to an extent its true. But there is also many older members who try to round out the rough edges. These are mostly Brujah and Malkavians sired in the age when free radical thinking was in vogue.
Brujah and Caitiff are the most common of the clans found within. Brujah basically built the entire thing and Caitiff of the Cammarilla usually find that no one else will take them in, and in fact activly scorn them. Malkavians and Toreador are the next most common after that, though the Toreador are almosy always quite young. Gangrel come after these two, they can be staunch allies but their loner additude can also sometimes lead to them being alienated. Nosferatu are not unheard of, though many find it coushy to just stay with the rest of their clan. Because of how ventrue sire and how seriously they take preening their childer the blue bloods are fairly rare in the movment. There is even the occasional Tremere, who seem to only live by never so much at hinting teaching another Thaumatgury. Ravnos are quite few though a few do break the clan sterotype and join the cause. Assamite, Giovanni, Setites, Tzimisce, and Lasombra are unheard of within the movment.
==The Movment in Portland==
In Portland, the Carthians were an inevitability moreso than anything else. Due to Portland's reputation as 'The Cage' Kindred fleeing justice naturally fled to Portland, and more often than not political tensions were the number one reason to flee one's city. Even crimes such as slaying another Kindred can be forgiven in time, but a rare elder is an elder that will suffer Neonates to conspire against him.
When Delilah King arrived in Portland, she was a calm but spirited Ancillae, capable of expressing herself so well that it gave way to leadership. Her natural charisma brought the disenfranchised to her, and together they carved a small piece of the city for themselves. By her side came three others, Carlos, Jack, and Chantel. For decades it was just for the four of them, and Delilah using her social graces managed to grant them representation under Prince Fabienne.
It wasn't until the arrival of Sebastian and his brood of upstarts did the Carthians see a rejuvenation. Over the decades they had grown weary of their small numbers, but accepting and complacent. Once Nick arrived, him and his childer Ben and Derrick also joined the ranks of the Carthians.
While Nick was a capable Kindred, it was in the immense strength and surprising cleverness of Derrick did Delilah see opportunity. His natural tenacity to alter dynamics almost unknowingly and obliviously shifted the political momentum in her favor a few times, each time she worked behind the scenes to secure and make permanent the shifts.
Once the Carthians took control of the city, they reorganized the Primogenship to include Covenants, and are currently planning a democratic Representativeship, or a popular vote. It is not currently known which is planned.
==Carthian Advantages==
Carthians hold no blood magic, no special coils, no disciplines, and they lack the sheer size and world wide power structure. What they have is a shocking knowledge of modern technology and an ability to work together rather then against one another.
There is also a great number of Devotions developed by Carthians. These are kept secret and only taught to long time, trusted members. Attempts to forcibly learn these devotions has lead to the final death or more then one vampire.
Category:Covenants