Caitiff (Kay-tiff)

"She would scream, but she has no mouth. A nothing being, in a nowhere place. Abandoned... and alone."

-- Uncanny X-Men V.1 #233 - Chris Claremont

Not a Clan per se, as the curse and gifts of the blood evade them, yet not so distinct that they are a breed all their own like their Thin-Blooded cousins. The Caitiff are the nothings of the night, targetted, shamed, and blamed throughout the night. If not left to their own devices, these Kindred will either be slaughtered by their fellows, clumsily stumble their way through epiphany and discoveries, or work themselves to the nub to gain an ounce of respect.
In Tacoma, however, a surprisingly large number of them have gathered for decades in the shadows of the Camarilla. Now that the Anarchs have taken over and are generally advocating for a more open-minded, tradition-breaking style of socialization, the primary threats to the Caitiff in the area are not to be seen, creating the right circumstances for this clan of the clanless to boom and bloom.
As a part of the Caitiff's lack of strict clan identity, they have no inherently derived powers and often struggle to learn common Disciplines, rarely ever learning the more niche ones. That isn't to say they can't, given the right teacher or resources, and there are even whispers among the night of Caitiff creating their own abilities.

Structure

In general, Caitiff do not organize. Either their inherent lack of identity makes it hard to come together, they're too busy trying to become a part of the system that would destroy them or the powers that be keep a vested interest in keeping them down. There exist some exceptions, but they're typically smaller scale and don't tend to last long.
The only collective group of Caitiff that're a unified force isn't a positive look for the clan. Within the monstrousness of The Sabbat, there exists a group known as the Panders. Beginning around the 1950s, Panders are Caitiff that fight and survive for their spot at the table, and the powers of the Sabbat smile upon their eagerness to spill blood, their own or others, although they still receive only a fraction of the respect they deserve.
Within Tacoma, Caitiff gathered in loose groups in order to evade detection from their Camarilla sires. It was an open secret that, with Tacoma being distant from the social sphere of Seattle proper, it was a dumping ground for the undesirable, and Caitiff childer were a part of that denomination. Over time, they came together in a rough fashion, finding support and safety where unity could be forged. This was obviously bad news for the Camarilla, but with the Anarch sentiment in the city rising from the '60s onward, which was around the same time enough Caitiff gathered to be "noticeable", they had to choose who to focus on: the rebels making noise, or the regrets staying quiet.
During the stalemate between Anarch and Camarilla, the Caitiffs gathered by following the advice of their elders, the Caitiff who had the knowledge and resources to stick around without harm. Among them were two voices of authority, the Scarless, who were seen as pillars of the community, although little otherwise was known about them.
Following the Sabbat Invasion and the Cleansing Nights, which not only pushed out the Camarilla but also brought some Panders to their "senses", the Caitiff aren't having to hide as much, integrating with the rest of Kindred society proper. They still prefer to gather with each other, with one of them even becoming one of Tacoma's district Overseers and bringing others towards them, but overall they're finding much more social acceptance than they've found before.
With that, they've begun to discuss and share ideologies with each other instead of just worrying about surviving and gathering together, and a few key divisions in thought have formed.

• Some Caitiff call themselves Clan Destined rather than the title other Kindred give them and believe that they are a step above the standard Kindred, for they do not suffer even the most pervasive Banes of their kind and have an equal spread of availability over the kindred Disciplines. They believe they are only hunted out of ancient fear, and that they are the natural evolution of Kindred as a whole. This can lead many of them to be arrogant, especially to their Thin-Blood fellows, who seem to be a different type of creature overall, only tangentially Kindred, in their eyes.
• Molotovs are the Caitiff who want to take a more aggressive stand against those that would hunt them. While not fully believing in the hype of Clan Destined, they are now in a place of stability and they want to pay back decades of hunting, fear, and destabilization in as many ways as they can. They often run along the same lines as the Brujah when it comes to combatting the Camarilla, but the general vibe is that they are done with hiding and running away and that they're going to be present and stand up for their existance.
• Masks are big fans of hiding and running away. While they enjoy not being on the edge every night, they don't think this is the time to be displaying themselves to the world. However, they do still share their fellow's sense of justice, retribution, and individuality, but they are also aware that no matter how powerful they find themselves, there are centuries of fear behind them. They're going to act, and you'll never see it, but they'll know that they won that night.

There are also just as many Caitiff who don't have any particularly strong feelings about action and are just enjoying not being on the menu or some Sheriff's hitlist.

Culture

In General

The Caitiff lack a true unifying culture in most cases, save for their uniform rejection by other clans. The Camarilla even in the past preferred them to be executed, many Anarchs see them as not Kindred enough to mean anything, and even the Sabbat holds them in contempt despite having one of the most unified groups of Caitiff under their purview.
That isn't to say that all Caitiff remain rejected, but it's an eternal uphill battle to gain recognition of any kind. The lucky few are able to make a hidden name for themselves, become a puppet leaders of a nothing province, or prove their strict loyalty to an Elder to gain adoption into a clan, but the majority are left either in the dust or to become dust.
For interclan cultures, it's next to impossible for the Caitiff to really create one. Other clans have the "benefit" of their clan curses, compulsions, and specific skill sets that gear their unlives and the attitudes of the clan. The Toreador wouldn't be the sensual seducers and artistic wonders without their skills for supernatural attention and curse towards aesthetic fixation. The Nosferatu wouldn't be damned to the shadows or skillfully become them without their hideous visage or powers of stealth. Therefore, with the Caitiff being a Tabula Rasa, a blank slate, without curse, compulsion, or clan discipline, they have nothing but outward reactions to define them.

In Tacoma

Tacoma's existence as the dumping ground for the Seattle Camarilla meant that there were a lot more Caitiff than you find in your typical city and many more that made sure that you couldn't find them. While it would be a stretch to say that the Caitiff of the past had a unified culture, they did have one shared ideal: adaptation. Changing with the times, the politics, the dominant social groups, changing however and whatever you needed to in order to make it just that one more night. The unclaimed became the chameleons of the night.
As the time of the stalemate rounded, more Caitiff stood proud by their identity, and even though any respect among the Anarchs was hard-earned, and the Camarilla still oft hunted and scapegoated them, the fact that Tacoma was home to many Caitiff became undeniable truth.
With the rise of the new status quo in Tacoma, the Caitiff have had more room to grow as a culture, and a prevalent theme of reclamation has arisen. Either through careful force, aggressive force, or subterfuge, the Caitiff (or Clan Destined for a few) are refusing to be silent survivors any longer, and are seeking out their own piece of the pie. What culture persists among the clanless, only time will tell, so long as Tacoma remains a home for them.

History

Caitiff do not have much of a history that can't be summed up by saying "They existed, we killed them, all of us moved on."
Supposedly, for the historically wise, Caitiff existed since the dawn of Kindred existence, since there were curses to set the uncursed apart. However in those early times, if they survived long enough the curse of the blood would eventually catch up to them.
At some point in the intervening millennia, something apparently changed, because following the ravages of World War 2 more and more purely clanless Caitiff, the type we recognize today, began to be seen. This could be due to just a greater Kindred population to notice it, or it could be because this era began to tiptoe towards higher and higher generations of the blood, with the power and curse of the Vitae becoming further removed from its supposed sources, the state that tends to create more Caitiff and Thin-Bloods alike. This too was true for Tacoma, as the rise of Anarchs and the increase of Caitiff population happened around the same time within the city.
Even as the Thin-Bloods appeared, less Vampiric than the Caitiff, they were grouped together more often than not, and subject to not only the same ire but the same executioner's block. To some, this was to spare the community the embarrassment of Childer that couldn't claim their clan, but to others, it was to stave off the apocalyptic Gehenna that was supposedly forewarned by Kindred who could not receive the blessings or curses of their kind. 
In the late 1950s, a Caitiff member within the Sabbat, Joseph Pander, led the other clanless "antitribu" against the Lasbomra and Tzimisce during a 100-day-long Civil War and eventually gained respect and recognition within the sect alongside other antitribu clans. While it is hard-kept respect, and the Caitiff of the sect, now calling themselves Panders, are still often thrown in the lion's den, it's a preferable existence to being killed on sight that many have taken over the years. 
In 1973, a group of Camarilla Caitiff, having heard of this act, attempted to do the same, but the effort has less of a meaning in the Camarilla, and they were captured and presumably killed for their trouble.
In Tacoma, the Caitiff were silent supporters of the growing Anarch movement, helping them hide and survive as they had learned to, and in some cases perfected, over their decades of secrecy. This gave them a good reputation with the Anarchs, as even those who would look down on the less powerful could respect those who gave them a hand against all else and those who fought against the powers that would kill them. 
When the stalemate hit, this help was even more invaluable, especially when Prince Gravenstein came to power in the city, leaving Anarchs and all other undesirables with a ruthless executioner in their own backyard. Caitiffs, Thin-Bloods, and Anarchs alike lost people by the dozens over the years of the Stalemate condition, but enough still lived to fight back and survive into the next big moment for the city.
When the Sabbat invaded, many Caitiff were actually spared, even when their Pander cousins found the places they'd hide. Some would end up joining the Panders against all odds, wanting to be on the "winning" side. Some of the Panders took the chance to switch teams the other way, siding with their technically-sectless fellows. But in most cases, the Caitiff wouldn't want to throw in with the more monstrous Panders, and it would come down to survival and skill. Then, the Cleansing Nights hit, and the Caitiff were an integral part of Fiore Choi-Yun's counter-attack.
In those final fights, several of the clanless even bravely fought alongside their fellows, with many of the bombastic and empowered fighters carrying the Clan Destined mindset out of it, and added to that final push to rid their city of the miasmic Sabbat. They were also all too happy to add the pressure to get the Camarilla out of Tacoma as well when the tower tried to weasel back into the city they had so easily written off.
With that pedigree under their belts, the Caitiff are seen as positively as ever within the City of Destiny, and their star is not falling just yet. Much like with many things in the primordial experiment that is Tacoma, time will tell if the Caitiff will be relegated to the shadows once more, or if there finally is a proper place for them among the Kindred these nights.

Demography and Population

Caitiff are mostly younger Kindred, as they are mostly consisted of higher generation Kindred. This is relative, of course, as the recent boom has lasted from the late 1940s to now, but when you're dealing with a society mostly of 100+-year-old Kindred, the difference is vast.

Territories

While plenty of podunk, nowhere towns on the skirts of real Prince's territories have been given to the Caitiff to make them feel important while keeping them far away from real society, no Caitiff has really been able to amass much power in any meaningful way. 
The one exception is Mukhtar Bey, the legendary Prince of Cairo, Egypt. While his rise to power was full of doubt and second-guessing, ever since he rose to that position he has ruled Cairo as a free city for all Kindred, no matter their sect, and managed the peace through strength, reason, charisma, and conviction ever since the 14th century. All of this despite, or perhaps owing to, his status as a Caitiff.

Founding Date

Unknown

Type

Geopolitical, Clan

Alternative Names

The Clanless, Orphans, Mutts

Demonym

Caitiff

Ruling Organization

The Anarch Movement

Related Species

• Kindred Vampire