The Ministry a.k.a The Setites

"The world has gone mad today

And good's bad today,

And black's white today,

And day's night today,

When most guys today

That women prize today

Are just silly gigolos
Anything goes!"

-- Anything Goes, Patti LuPone

The corruptive clan outside the Cainite sphere, The Ministry, formerly known as the Setites, is a tactful clan full of secrets and ancient lore that've kept their place in the nightly life of the Kindred through a combination of guile, trickery, and their particular niche of esoteric knowledge. In the past they were fiercely independent, spreading their particular brand of faith and end-of-world preparation throughout all manner of communities. However, the modern night and its multitude of shakeups have necessitated not just a branding change, but a shift in priorities and allegiance as well. These days they mainly ally themselves with The Anarch Movement, but largely play them and the Camarilla in their vie for control.
In the modern night, with its many changes, members of the Ministry use the following disciplines to aid in their gatherings of faith and corruption:

• Obfuscate - the best way to avoid judgemental hunters and gather your knowledge in places you very much shouldn't be, is to avoid being seen altogether, with the clan taking much sanctuary in the pitch darkness in literal and metaphorical ways.
• Presence - Much of the Ministry's tactics rely on devotion, amassing a group (sometimes cult) of debaucherous followers or crowds of listening ears. So, the ability to command attention to or fiercely away from you is a key power in the Ministry playbook.
• Protean - Originally, the Seties had access to a unique ability amongst Kindred known as Serpentis, allowing them to mimic the abilities and physical forms of snakes. While the original skill is seemingly lost to many Kindred in the modern night, some of its abilities have been carried over into the general shape-shifting powers of Protean, allowing the Ministry to still maintain their niche.

Structure

There is little clan-wide structure in the Ministry. Most of what exists is local, based around their temples, cults, or other places of influence and business. There will be leaders, owners, and figureheads of some variety, and it is up to their structure and whim that any other ranks will be filled in. Usually, Setites leave each other alone, usually, preferring to prioritize their Clan loyalties over sect loyalty.
There does exist some higher order among the clan, old Elders and their favored childer known as the Hierophants, but many of those Elders have entered torpor for one reason or another, and their position is more quiet supervision than direct leading of the Clan.
Within Tacoma's Ministry culture, there are three well-known (among the clan) leaders. Jacey Moore the 3rd has a pretty standard Setite cult, preaching about the wonders of hedonistic pleasure-seeking and releasing the restraints of shame and modesty. While her "Church of Shed Skin" isn't the most inventive, it's been successfully secretive and sustained since the sixties. Her Childer, Dana Boulos and Ashura McConnell, follow in her footsteps, although Dana uses more of a new-medicine healing aspect, while Ashura applies a money-making bend to it.

Culture

Corruption

Corruption is the main hat of the Ministry. Their main genuine belief is that the soul is tied down by the body, with mortal existence being a jail made by other divinities. Their philosophized solution to this problem is to exposure-therapy you so hard that your physical, material, mortal cravings are done away with, bringing your soul closer to freedom from the prison of reality. This is also, if you can imagine, part of how they get their cult following because sometimes these mortal chains of temptation bring people closer to addictive substances and behaviors that should really be therapized about instead of this, but it wouldn't be Corruptive if it was entirely benevolent.

Cults

While not every Minister uses the appeal and mental tactics of a cult to draw in their crowd, many of them do. It isn't hard to see why, when you combine their religious ideology with the substances and tactics they use as a part of it, drawing a crowd of loyal followers or otherwise entwined relations is the easy part.
While the main goal is still to pass along their core ideology and gain resources to best serve Set when he returns, each cult takes on a different shape. The subject matter, end goal, and even associated religion and gods, all come down to the individual minister and their flock. It doesn't even have to be structured like a cult, as there are plenty who've entered the art world by various means and gained their worshipping flock in more socially acceptable ways.

Antiquity

As one of the most consistent clans throughout the ages, the Ministry has a monopoly on ancient history in various forms. They have many written records, old artifacts, esoteric tomes, and otherwise people and experts who have been around for entire Kindred generations. Of course, this doesn't mean that a Minister is always objective, as despite not giving up their information easily, they will have their own agendas at the end of the night.
This resource is the main reason the Camarilla has tolerated the Ministry as long as it did, even reluctantly offering them a seat among them, which at the time was denied by the then-independent clan. Their sources as well can only go back so far, as the fog of ages and historical biases exist for any record, no matter how much it's depended on.

Tacoma Culture

In previous years, there was little to no Ministry presence within Tacoma. The city made for a decent hiding place, and a fun place to pick up scrubs down on their luck, but there wasn't a lot of resources or appeal. However, with the tides turning and much of the Ministry finding a new home in the Anarch Movement, that has changed considerably!
A few well-known Ministers came to the city from either Portland or Spokane, but most of the population is relatively young and/or low on the proverbial ranking charts. But, the numbers are growing, and despite not everyone liking what they're selling, the Ministry's interconnectedness gives their prospective customers access to many resources in many different varieties that they wouldn't otherwise have. As with the other clans in Tacoma's society, a few distinct groups have begun to sprout, differentiated as such:

• King Cobra's are your stereotypical Setite. Corruptive, scheming, with a penchant for cult-like structures and getting plenty of people wrapped around their little finger. In Tacoma specifically, many of these Ministers don't advertise themselves as a cult, or any sort of religious movement, but provide the power of the almighty dollar, some falsified sense of community, or alternative health groups.
• Rattlesnakes are the Ministers who play the social scene in a more direct way. Up-and-coming singers, rappers, producers, artists, poets, etcetera. They use fame as their locus of control and wield it just as carefully.
• Nightsnakes are Ministers who don't deal with the social aspect of it at all. No cults, no followers, they prefer to set up their schemes and take care of business on their own. Many newer Ministers in Tacoma fall into this group, as they haven't the aptitude, training, or patience to set up a full flock of adulating worshipers.

There are also those who don't lean in either direction, but still take part in the business of the clan, to some degree.

Public Agenda

The PUBLIC public agenda of the clan depends entirely on who you ask and who they're speaking to. But, peel back the layers and the primary goal of the clan is to spread their philosophy of freedom from lifes' tethers, and to gain resources to empower Set when his vessel returns.

Assets

Resource gathering is the name of the game for the Ministry, so even though they've taken a few heavy hits due to the chaos in the Middle East, they still have plenty of resources across the world, as well as a very important resource: (mostly) reliable information about the distant past.

History

Metatextual Preface

One thing to note before beginning the history section, I am rewriting a bit of the original lore in regards to the clans founding. White Wolf lore makes a lot of non-Christian deities and figures into Vampires for some reason, and I'm personally not a huge fan of attributing non-Christian cultural figures to a Christian origin where I can spot it. The amount this change will matter is probably little to none, but I wanted to mention it, and if you'd personally rather follow the OG lore, all the power to you.

Early History - Set's Involvement

The ancient origins of Kindred, as they have been around for an insanely long time, are lost to the fog of ages, with many Clans having fragmentary and oft-debated origins, with The Book of Nod being one of the only collected sources, and tells but one version of the tale.
But the Setites are not most Kindred, and while they too only know so much, secretly collected tomes of the clan tell a slightly different version of their personal history than Noddists espouse. For one, their Clan does not spawn from Yahweh and his curse upon Cain, but from their eponymous God, Set. The two deities, however, do intersect.
Advisory

The following is all non-canonical to wider White Wolf lore.

 
Before the City of Enoch rose, Set felt the presence of wider divinity being spread throughout the Sahara and beyond, his domain as God of the Deserts. His aspect as God of Foreigners, as well, told him right away this presence was not from one of the divinities his people would worship. This was the lingering effect of an outsider's power. So, the God turned his eyes to the mortal world and watched.
He saw the first generations of Kindred gather and propagate, witnessing the rise of the Antediluvians and their creation of Enoch but knew that disaster was on the horizon. Disorder too was his domain. But these creatures, inventions of another Gods wrath, intrigued him, and he felt some minor degree of kinship, especially with Cain, as another defeated sibling. So, he kept to his observations and grew to rather like the Kindred and the potential they held.
But soon, observation did not satisfy his curiosity. He wanted to experience them directly and potentially had the inlet through faith, as some Kindred brought into the fold worshiped the Egyptian Gods, but Yahweh's curse upon Cain did not allow other divinities to touch them. This left Set's now-insatiable curiosity with one solution, the God had to create.
Using the sands of the desert and all the strength of a storm, along with the inherent corruptive energy within Kindred due to their curse, Set wove together a mortal vessel based on all the traits he had observed about the Kindred thus far, going a bit too far in their weakness to the suns light. But, creation was not in his usual wheelhouse, and so he needed to give a piece of himself to this new creation to finish the job, and so he chose to take a piece of his Ren, the name of his very soul, and put it into the new being. Thus, Set the God created Set the Kindred, and sent him to mingle and learn with the citizens of Enoch.
Very soon, however, Set the Kindred began to be more than just a vessel for his counterpart's curiosity. Perhaps he was fueled by the God's own ambitions, but feeling the strength of the vampire in his body, and realizing how much more power he had over the simple humans, he set out a campaign to create his own Clan and spread his name across Egypt and the world. The God took some offense to this, as he was supposed to be their in to the lives of the Kindred he was so fond of, but even the God liked the idea of power growing under his name, even if it wasn't himself directly doing it.
This ended up working out pretty well for them for the next few millennia, as their Clan grew slowly yet surely and successfully, gaining strength and notoriety across plenty of land even as Enoch fell and civilizations rose and fell. Despite fighting against envoys of other Deities of Egypt and their vessels, intent on keeping the balance, they had their victories in the darkness, slithering among the sands.
Despite Set the God not having much connection with serpents, Set the Kindred was quite fond of them, and used their stealthy and deadly natures, especially amidst the desert, as a metaphor for the clans modus operandi, an iconography that not only stuck but also became quite literal with the creation of their unique discipline Serpentis.
But this was not meant to last. Unfortunatley, creating a vessel as a Kindred meant that he was counted among the Kindred, and when some dramatic nonsense happened close to when calender as we know it went from counting down to counting up, Yahweh finally turned His eyes towards earth properly, and saw there were a few more Kindred he wasn't responsible for.
In an act that crossed the usual boundaries between divnities, Yahweh exorcised his authority over the Curse. First, since Set the Kindred was made as a Kindred, he was smote and had the piece of Ren within him forcibly removed, after which it returned to Set the God. With his final moments of sentience, gained by having spent so many millenia as his own entity, Set told his followers that he would return one day, and they should carry on their mission no matter what.
Yahweh's next act would be two-fold, first to send earthquakes that broke many ancient temples and destroyed many records of that time, and second on a spiritual level binding all Setites to the curse as equally as Cainites. Their origins would not let them avoid the eventual fate and tragedies of the Kindred. With this, the Christian God returned to his state as observor.
This act enraged Set, who found himself cut off from the clan his vessel had made the same way he was cut off from the rest of the Kindred. But, his rage would not last for long, as Set the Kindred kept the flame lit in his final moments, and the Clan was already starting to pave the way for his return. Now, Set merely waits for the time when Yahweh's persistent attention will crack, and this time he will pull more than a small piece of himself through.
But, future promises are phantasmal and oft irrelevant. Let's continue with how the Setites, now without their titular founder spriitually or physically, continued to move with the times.
Advisory

This is the end of my personal lore. The rest will be mostly canonical, if not made brief or skipping over certain pieces.

Medieval and Rennaisance

Without the direct guidance of Set the Kindred, the Clan began to grow and splinter in some ways. A majority of the power and the most faithful remained in Egypt, although a sect of more free-wheeling hedonists grew in the time of Constantinople (not yet Istanbul), and when that city fell, they spread outward across the world. This led the more devout Setites still in Egypt to ban them from the country, stopping them from proper historical education while also letting them loose upon the rest of society. 
This was to be their only real impact in the Crusades, however. While they took their losses, same as anyone else, the Setites were not damaged enough to side with either the first Anarch movement (later the Sabbat) or the newly formed Camarilla, and merely kept to their own business. No, their most frequent enemy was the Banu Haqim, as their regions of power intertwined and butted against the Setites. While the two are ideologically opposed, one believing in hedonism as release from societies constraints while the other firmly believes in justice and doing things in a strict and ordered fashion, they have largely reached a treaty with one another since those early days. 
Not many large-scale events happened within the Clan, as staying subtly in the shadows suits them the best. However, as the Rennaisance kicked into high gear, they had many wonderful oppritunities for themselves. Firstly, the advent of greater trade across the known world allowed their skills in resource gathering and obtaining to flourish and made them in higher demand, with the clan even getting themselves involved in despicable forms of trade for their resources. Secondly, the rise of the aristocracy gave the Setites a whole caste of nobles with too much money and too many social pressures. What better creature to advertise the wonders of the occasional vice or hedonistic enjoyment? 
If the Clans symbology and behavior was formed early on, the Rennaisance is when their primary niche began to be perfected.

Victorian Age to the Modern Nights

The Victorian Age only increased the successes the clan was seeing. The bourgeoisie were getting richer, the proletariat were getting more desperate, and all sides needed their indulgences to escape from reality. There was even expansion into something new across the great ocean, with a good number of Setites working their way into the burgeoning settlements early. Occultism, drug trades, the increase of puritanical values and the counter-culture too them, too many successful roads to count opened up for them.
Among the Kindred as well, the Setites were becoming more and more necessary. The Camarilla began to notice their usefulness in moving items, vessels, resources, and of course for their wealth of ancient knowledge from their rather stable existance thus far.
Despite all of this, there were some issues, as Egypt was becoming more and more colonized and occupied, but the clans manuevering and manipulations kept them rather secure, even if little else was. 
But, while there was material success after success...there was no Set. Despite all the turmoil faced by the world, despite the push into our modern day creating so many wars, two that pushed the limits of mortal depravity, it seemed that it was not enough for Set to return to the mortal world to lead the clan once more. Perhaps it never would be enough.
While many of the Clan despaired, many thought of a different viewpoint. They conceptualized that their successes and wealth throughout the years weren't just due to the change of the times, but it was Set within them all, connected by the blood within them. Even if Set could not return to the land of the unliving, they would be his unliving vessels, and carry on to the modern night, until the end was upon them.
And then the freaking Second Inquisition started!!!
In the past, the Setites had remained powerful enough to remain independent among the Kindred, even rejecting the Camarilla when they asked the clan to officially join them. But, as the century turned, and the oddities began, the Clan began to go ever-so-slightly on the backfoot.
First, the Beckoning began, taking many elders to a mysterious location. Then, said mysterious location is in the freaking Middle East right next door to them! The influx of elder Kindred for the mystery war has interrupted and destroyed many a Setite scheme, as the Sabbat, the Elders, and whatever strange cause they fight with fervor tears apart the desert in the night.
And then, the Inquisition began! While the Setites were about as effected as they were before, the writing was clearly on the wall that they needed strict allies and needed them fast. They attempted to join the Camarilla, even rebranding to The Ministry in order to be less alienated from the other clans, but when the Banu Haqim showed up alongside them, their eternal rivals got the spot while they got the boot. But, this led them to find a home among the Anarch Movement, although any proper Minister will play any side that's worth their while. 
Despite these setbacks, and the new renaming, the Ministry is still doing rather well, being a primary resource for procuring supplies and also a spiritual core for those Kindred who need it. Even in Tacoma, their presence has been growing, bringing all the positives and negatives that come alongside that. 
Now, thousands upon thousands of years after the fact, time will still tell if Set truly is among them these nights, or if the world is just one more rough shake away from his reemergence.

Demography and Population

The origins of the clan begin in Egypt, and so the Ministry has much power and membership from the North African region. Despite that, the modern state of the Clan has spread far and wide, bringing in individuals from all walks of life. But, much like Clan Malkavian which we covered last, many of their clan ends up being people on the fringes of society for one reason or another. Instead of them being more ignored in health or used to obscurity, the Ministry brings these people in mostly because their dissatisfaction and ostracization leads them to be easier pulled in by their persuasive tactics. Some specific cult centers among the clan even report that non-Setite Kindred join their Clan, in spirit if not in blood.

Territories

The Ministry, even in its day as the Setites, were never one for the limelight. Despite the obvious pun in regard to their clan weakness, they were better served as subtle advisors and temptors in dark corridors and shadowy dens of sin rather than any obvious position of power. So, there are no known Princes, Barons, Archbishops, or whatever have you of the clan.
That doesn't mean they don't control territory, as the clan has many cults, small and large, that hold much influence and weight in certain areas, but that information is kept quiet and hidden, as they still seek to control and corrupt from the darkness that is most comfortable to them.

Religion

Religion is one of the cornerstones of The Ministry's existence. While they warp and bend the faith of many people to fit their goals and serve their supposed founder, not unlike the tactics of The Sabbat, they wear the mask of those other faiths to draw people in.

Founding Date

>8000 BCE (supposedly)

Type

Geopolitical, Clan

Alternative Names

Liberators/Corruptors, Clan of Faith/Lies, Serpents

Demonym

Minister

Ruling Organization

The Anarch Movement

Related Species

• Kindred Vampire