The Anarchs and the Night of Rage

The seeds of revolution from 1966 to mid 1970s

Reports of trouble began to emerge from other princes across the country, warning of neonates, Anarchs, and Sabbat packs causing mayhem. The Camarilla leaders had grown complacent in their rule after decades of relative peace and either mishandled threats or overreacted to them. In the South, black vampires who supported the fight for equality among mortals faced brutal retaliation from white princes, who ruled in a racist culture.

Anarchs, who had been kept in check by the Camarilla and princes, were slowly but constantly growing in number. By the 1960s, they had solidified their hold on the Anarch Free States due to the brutality of the West Coast princes. They allied with discontented mortals and met the princes' moves with organized aggression, causing violence to spread across the nation.

Chicago's anarchs had been quietly rebuilding, and by 1960, they had become a constant concern for Prince Lodin due to their strength and numbers. A shadow war between the Ventrue and the anarchs developed, with both sides avoiding serious violence until the Night of Rage in 1966.

The Night of Rage

The Night of Rage changed everything. Balthazar, the prince's enforcer, stumbled onto a group of Brujah in Lincoln Park and attacked them, suspecting they were plotting against Prince Lodin. Unknown to him, these Brujah were a major reason for the city's relative peace. They were members of a band called Urban Sprawl, who had become a leading force among the anarchs due to the popularity of their music.

The anarchs responded to the attack with a ferocity that shook Kindred society to its roots. The battle raged across the rooftops and through the sewers of Chicago, and even Elders were not safe, some being hunted back to their havens. More than a dozen on either side had been destroyed or forced into torpor by the end of the week. The war had come out of the shadows once and for all.

The War of Ages

Chicago was the largest U.S. city under Camarilla control, and it became the center of the War of Ages between the Camarilla and the Anarchs. The Anarchs flocked to the city, and the Camarilla sent powerful archons to battle them. For two years, both sides sniped at each other, maneuvering through the city in hopes of gaining an advantage. The old socialists mostly stayed out of the conflict, but they did advise and succor the younger anarchs.

As 1968 approached, a showdown between the two sides seemed inevitable. In April, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. caused an outburst of previously suppressed bitterness, but the Cainites had yet to settle their conflict. The violence started on August 28th, during the Democratic Party's presidential convention, when Lodin obtained permission from the Ventrue justicar to settle the anarch problem once and for all.

The prince launched his assault, and armies of police and elders flooded into the streets, attacking the protesters. Battle was joined, and much of it was shown live on national television. The ranks of the protesters crumbled, and the anarchs were forced to flee. More than 100 vampires from all parts of the world disappeared that night. The Camarilla began to feel that the anarch threat had been crushed, and stability was finally restored to Chicago.

Although the Camarilla won, Chicago suffered more than any other city. Its very soul had been torn out, and the few remaining rebels went as far underground as possible. Lodin outlawed siring in the metropolitan area, and for 10 years, the anarchs played almost no role in the city. They still existed, but only on the fringes of Kindred society. The Camarilla was able to launch brutal purges, and an age of repression had dawned.

The elders had won, but for years, they walked in fear, terrified of an attack by vengeance-crazed anarchs. Those few rebels who still lived in the city went as far underground as possible. Those shielded by the mightiest allies or possessed of the wiliest intellects managed to survive, but Lodin hunted down and killed as many as he could.

The Return of the Anarchs

No matter how obscene the existence of vampires may be, they remain a part of nature, and nature abhors a vacuum. Slowly, anarchs began filtering back into the city or were created despite Lodin's edict. Confident that his victory had been final, Lodin began to relieve the pressure he had exerted for so long. He declared a truce and officially accepted the presence of anarchs in his city. As long as they obeyed his laws, he said, they were welcome to remain. However, he insisted that they Present themselves to him at Elysium.

Though they distrusted him greatly, none thought that he would risk breaking the Masquerade, and so, slowly, most of the remaining anarchs Presented themselves. Despite the new tolerance, it might have taken decades for the anarchs to recuperate had it not been for the appearance of MALDAVIS. She seemed to come out of nowhere but, supported by respected anarchs and displaying mysterious powers, she quickly rose to a position of authority among the battered rebels. She began to forge a new Anarch Movement.

The Anarchs and the mystery at the Lincoln Park Zoo

During the early 1970s, a series of animal thefts occurred at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The robbers were based in an abandoned tenement's basement in the vicinity. In a violent outburst, a group of Anarchs led by Rosa Hernandez, a Gangrel known as "Rose," attacked the thieves and killed them. The motive for the animal thefts was unclear, with Rose claiming the thieves planned to sell them for medical experimentation. However, it was unclear why any corporation would purchase a leopard.

The police believed the thieves were killed by their stolen goods, but this theory was as questionable as Rose's explanation. The stolen animals were also found dead, with their joints punctured and their bodies drained of bone marrow. Rose was ordered to report to Lodin at the next assembly in Elysium, where she claimed to have found the animals already dead. The basement appeared ravaged, and all the electrical appliances had vanished.

In the meantime, several other killings occurred involving the draining of human victims' bone marrow. On Lodin's orders, the city government covered up these killings to avoid a panic, along with the deaths of the animal thieves. Lodin used the situation to crack down on the Anarchs, punishing those who had been living in the open. However, Rose's violation of the Masquerade was overlooked due to extenuating circumstances, but she received a strict warning.

The bone marrow killings ceased about a week later, and the cause remains a mystery. Kindred gossip has proposed various theories, including extraterrestrial involvement and a Methuselah's thirst for something new.