The Camarilla

> "Our ancient enemy has returned!"
>
> the Spree's warnings and Sarah Alder's realization, "Witchbomb"

**The Camarilla** are an ancient organization of witch hunters. They are dedicated to eliminating witches and were supposedly killed off years ago under the direction of General Alder but have since resurfaced after two centuries of dormancy.

## History

The Camarilla were funded and created by Henry VIII and Phillip II with the primary goal of eliminating all witches. They orchestrated the Spanish Inquisition and the Burning Times in Europe with the goal of identifying witch bloodlines and wiping them out. The Camarilla killed most of Sarah Alder's family, but failed to kill Sarah and her sister when they fled Europe. Eventually, Alder was seemingly able to eliminate the last of them. The group resurfaced in present day, around 200 years after their believed extermination.

Their traditional methods involved slashing at witches' throats and removing their vocal cords, sometimes burning the witches as well. Their latest incarnation employed similar tactics used by the ancient Camarilla, with the added use of technology to disable the witches' abilities, darts that contain a nearly incurable illness, and voice modulators to somewhat replicate and conjure up a twisted version of American weather work by utilizing witch vocal cords.

Over the course of a couple of months, the Camarilla began utilizing their plague darts in various war zones, causing multiple terminal cases. They also started attacking the Tarim cell with the virus, infecting several of them such as Khalida.

Due to being one of the primary witch matrilienes, the Camarilla targeted the Bellweather family in the United States. At Charvel Bellweather's wedding, two Camarilla members disguised as caterers and wielding a breastplate that disables witches' vocalization snuck into her bathroom and killed her by removing her vocal cords. Charvel's cousin Abigail Bellweather and later her mother arrived and defeated the assassins. The assassins self-immolated and claimed that they were Spree to avoid capture and detection. At the same time of this incident, Camarilla members executed at least seventeen other Bellweathers of child-bearing age across the six different states. The victims were tracked down by the Camarilla despite the fact that the victims' connection to the Bellweather Matriline had been lost to years of dodging and intermarriage with civilians, possibly even unaware of their lineage as witches, to the point where their marks have faded and even Sarah Alder and other Bellweathers were no longer aware of them.

Fifteen members of the Tarim are killed by the Camarilla by having their vocal cords removed and their bodies are laid into the shape of a pentagram. The Tarim escape to a cave but the Camarilla hang an elder by the entrance and dress her as General Alder's sister when she was hung.

When Sarah Alder and her forces come to rescue the remaining Tarim, the Camarilla watch them. They capture the pilots outside of the cave and when the witches come outside, they burn the pilots alive. The Camarilla conjure a dust storm and confront the witches in battle. Many Camarilla members are killed in the fight, but due to their numerical advantage they force the witches to retreat. More Camarilla are killed when Raelle Collar and Abigail Bellweather trigger a "witchbomb."

The Camarilla later begian to move more openly, proceeding towards their master plan of eradicating the world of all witches. They developed a dangerous witchplague with the power to infect and kill witches. They enlisted the help of Blanton Silver, the Vice President of the United States. Together, they organized to a plan to infect his daughter, Penelope Silver with a particularly virulent strain of the witchplague and then infiltrated Fort Salem, spreading the witchplaque among the soldiers there. Ultimately, the Unit succeeded in neutralizing the threat, but at the cost of Penelope Silver's life, forcing them into hiding as wanted fugitives.

## Members

* Henry VIII (Founder)
* Phillip II (Founder)
* Marcus Tooms
* Alban Hearst
* Blanton Silver
* Kara Brandt

## Attacks

* Massacre of the Bellweather Matriline (Bellweather Season, Up is Down)
* Massacre of the Tarim (Up is Down, Coup, Witchbomb)
* Infection of multiple war zones (Mother Mycelium)
* Ambush on General Alder's strike team (Witchbomb)
* Kidnapping of Raelle Collar (My 3 Dads)
* Assault on Fort Salem (Revolution, Part 1)
* Second Assault on Fort Salem (Revolution, Part 2)

## Equipment

* **Blades** - The Camarilla members who attacked the Bellweather descendants and the Tarim had knives or daggers with them to cut out their victims' vocal chords.
* **Breastplate** - One of the Camarilla members who attacked the Bellweather wedding was wearing a special breastplate concealed underneath his clothes. The breastplate was designed to emit high frequency screeching that disables witches' powers. Sufficient damage to the breastplate can cause it to malfunction and end the power-inhibitive screeching. The breastplate appears to be unique in origin as the military was unable to identify the exact sound.
* **Explosive Disc** - The Camarilla used an exploding disc to destroy a helicopter when Sarah Alder's strike team tried to escape.
* **Witch Plague**- The Camarilla group used darts that poisons its targets like Khalida and the Tarim with a mysterious black illness. The disease wraps around it's victim's vocal cords and causes them to emit destructive sounds that cause heavy winds and disruptions in the environment. The disease is nearly incurable with only Raelle Collar's Christo-pagan fixing work curing it.
* **Scythes -** The ancient Camarilla used scythes to kill witches and remove their vocal cords. The new incarnation used these in a battle with General Alder's strike team.
* **Stakes** - The Camarilla group captured the witch pilots and burned them at the stake in front of the team led by General Alder.
* **Voicebox Modulators** - The Camarilla group that attacked Alder's team and the Tarim wore cube-shaped vocal modulators around their necks. This allowed them to perform fascimile of witch works. These are made of the vocal cords they removed from witches.

## References

1. ↑ After the Storm: Season 1 Finale | Freeform on YouTube
2. ↑ Motherland: Fort Salem Creator on What’s Brewing for Season 2 | Den of Geek
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 1x10: "Witchbomb"
4. ↑ 1x05: "Bellweather Season"
5. ↑ 1x06: "Up is Down"
6. ↑ 1x09: "Coup"
7. ↑ "Revolution, Part 1"