The Arcanum 1885

For the Camarilla keeping secrets is a full time job, in fact, as an organization that once easily and effectively managed a city like London with nothing more than a Prince, Master of Elysium and a Sheriff, things have become increasingly difficult, ney impossible by the late 19th century. Overwhelmed by the population explosion of the kine, the Camarilla find themselves struggling to understand the sheer scope of mortal activity in cities like London. There are over 6.5 million people living in London alone and that number had more than doubled in the last decade and is estimated to double again by the close of the century. Suffice to say things have changed, its become difficult to track and manage the mortal operations and ventures that are running in the open, let alone those who are actively trying to keep their affairs secret.
It is no surprise then that the formation of the underground organization known as The Arcanum went completely unnoticed. The Arcanum formed sometime in the mid 1800's completely under the radar of the London Elite and though initially it was presumed that this was a hunter cell operating in the city, as it would turn out the organization was largely benign. It's not clear who formed the organization or exactly what their charter is or from where they operate, but their interest in the supernatural is clear. They have managed to keep themselves a seemingly impenetrable secret, only making their presence known when they have made a significant discovery. In many ways this organization is a far greater threat to kindred kind and especially to the secretive Camarilla then an all out assault of hunters might be as the organizations only apparent goal seems to be one of very passive observation and documentation of the super natural world with a particular interest in vampires. In fact, no one was even aware of their existence until 1865 when a mysterious paper was privately published and distributed entitled "They are out there", which outlined in great detail the inconsistencies of the murder investigation pointing to something far more sinister and super natural then a mere serial killer. The freighting aspect of the paper was how accurate the depiction was, a clear masquerade breach that was covered up very well, was in this paper completely exposed.
Thankfully the organization hasn't really convinced mortals of the dangers it claims to reveal, many, in fact most, simply write these published papers off as the ramblings of an overly imaginative conspiracy theorists. None the less, the evidence presented in this paper and several papers that followed were very convincing, proving that not only are many attempted masquerade cover ups quite ineffective in its secrecy, but it exposed some of the new methods of forensic gathering being used by mortals.
Initial reaction to this phenomenon is disbelief, everything that kindred knew about mortals would suggest that when the masquerade is breached, the reaction is typically of a more religious nature which in the 19th century worked in their favor, allowing them to easily discredit such nonsense as hocus pocus. The Arcanum is a very different beast all together as they apply a fact based scientific method to their research and gather and generate actual evidence of vampire activity. What is worse is that it seems some vampires are cooperating with the Arcanum. Originally believed to have formed in Romania, documenting the life of a vampire a reclusive vampire resulting in the publication of a book that while ultimately was stamped a fictional novel, made clear the depiction of vampires was way too accurate to have simply been made up.
The Arcanum has gained a great deal of movement in London in particular and though the papers published and distributed by the Arcanum are largely seen as "conspiracy theories", the accuracy of the information in those papers should give all kindred reason to pause and indeed it has. Its firmly believed that as technology improves so will the evidence provided by the Arcanum, in particular the photo camera and now the motion picture camera mean that visuals of vampires can be created for the first time. Its all heading into a very uncomfortable direction and the Camarilla have taken a hard stance charging the princes of Europe to root out these cells wherever they appear, in particular in London where they appear to be the most active in 1886.
The Arcanum represents far more than just a mortal threat to the masquerade, it represents the seemingly eventual merger between science and religion, where rational thought and belief in the divine could find themselves working together turning the tide and potentially kick starting yet another inquisition, this time one based on hard evidence.
There is of course a lot of dispute about what the size of the problem is. The Arcanum could be nothing more than a couple of mortals with an overdeveloped sense of curiosity and at least to date, this is how most elder vampires see it. It's just mortals being mortals, with so many of them, it was bound to happen that a few might stumble upon the truth and the only thing standing between them and the eventual closure of such an organization is the appropriate amount of interest from an elder vampire. Others believe the Arcanum to be a structured organization, working across national lines in what appears to be a growing international threat, the first of its kind and the reason that it hasn't been shut down isn't a lack of interest but rather an inability to find the culprits.
The Arcanum threat is real, these investigators are cautious and work like paleontologist, observing but not interfering or interacting with its subjects. They are generating what is slowly becoming a very clear picture of the world of darkness for all to see.

Arcanum investigators are not believed to be part of any other known organization such as hunters, mages, inquisitors of the Vatican or any other known affiliation. It would seem at least for now, they are lone wolves working on their own.

Related Historical Events

• 1850
  The Creation of The Arcanum