Sabotage Artists
"The primary skill-set of the vampire race is corruption. Isnät it only fair to set them to the task of corrupting one another?"
Political nihilism makes as much sense for Kindred as spiritual or personal nihilism does, and possibly more. After all, what behavior can you expect of a vampire? He’s going to drink blood, seduce some mortals into serving or protecting him, probably ruin a couple of lives in fits of misplaced Paranoia, likely steal some stuff, kill at least a few times. He might feel bad about some or all of it, but the far safer bet is that he won’t, or at least not enough to change (or end) what he is.
Kindred aren’t necessarily amoral sociopaths, but walking the straight and narrow is a lot harder when you’ve got the Beast snapping at your heels. Vampires are often charming, when it suits their purposes, but only a fool would trust one to watch her house or her cat or her daughter while traveling.
If vampires aren’t to be trusted individually, what would make anyone think they’re more trustworthy in a group? After all, mortals don’t need to inflict injury just to survive, but they’re notoriously more stupid and more vicious when gathered as a mob than one-onone. Kindred in groups are far more likely to multiply their iniquities than they are to combine their virtues.
Armed with this staunchly grim assessment of Kindred collective action, a lazy vampire would go independent and console himself with the idea that at least the others aren’t fucking everyone over with his cooperation. But lazy Kindred don’t often join the Movement.
Sabotage Artists believe it is a moral imperative to make every Kindred covenant clumsy, short-sighted and self-defeating. If the covenants become efficient (the argument goes), they’re finally going to do something awful. But if they keep tying themselves and each other in knots, they’ll fail to deal any mortal blow to mortal society, and they’ll be much less of a pain to all Kindred, joiners or not, as a bonus.
Thus, the Sabotage Artists wreck it. They spy out Invictus interests in a gated community and infest it with rats. They watch as The Lancea Sanctum finds someone who can finally translate the obscure cave markings from ur-Aramaic. Then they kill him. They build fake Wyrm’s Nests to lure The Ordo Dracul and then snicker up their sleeves as the Dragons try to figure out why the occult manifestations ceased so abruptly. As for The Circle of the Crone, its loose structure makes a certain degree of disruption easy (since the Acolytes all disagree somewhat), but, past that threshold, they’re actually very hard to sabotage (since they’ve all agreed to disagree, somewhat).
The only covenant that doesn’t receive the Sabotage Artists’ malicious attentions is their own, of course. Most sabotage cadres insist that the Movement gets a pass because its lack of a unifying program makes interference redundant. Some outsiders cynically muse that the Carthians defeat themselves so thoroughly that no extra defeat is needed. Perhaps the elaborate rationales are just a whitewash on black, violent hearts.
Of course, all of this seems like a refuge for various malcontents, pointless hooligans and idiots of other stripes. That’s not the case, however. The Sabotage Artists are truly working toward a guerilla agenda of hampering the Kindred’s self-serving schemes. Anyone who underestimates the Sabotage artists as — or, worse, attempts to join them as — bomb-tossing anarchists of chaos for its own sake is in for a rude surprise. The Sabotage Artists don’t truck with stooges, and are ruthlessly effective in their methods.
Kindred aren’t necessarily amoral sociopaths, but walking the straight and narrow is a lot harder when you’ve got the Beast snapping at your heels. Vampires are often charming, when it suits their purposes, but only a fool would trust one to watch her house or her cat or her daughter while traveling.
If vampires aren’t to be trusted individually, what would make anyone think they’re more trustworthy in a group? After all, mortals don’t need to inflict injury just to survive, but they’re notoriously more stupid and more vicious when gathered as a mob than one-onone. Kindred in groups are far more likely to multiply their iniquities than they are to combine their virtues.
Armed with this staunchly grim assessment of Kindred collective action, a lazy vampire would go independent and console himself with the idea that at least the others aren’t fucking everyone over with his cooperation. But lazy Kindred don’t often join the Movement.
Sabotage Artists believe it is a moral imperative to make every Kindred covenant clumsy, short-sighted and self-defeating. If the covenants become efficient (the argument goes), they’re finally going to do something awful. But if they keep tying themselves and each other in knots, they’ll fail to deal any mortal blow to mortal society, and they’ll be much less of a pain to all Kindred, joiners or not, as a bonus.
Thus, the Sabotage Artists wreck it. They spy out Invictus interests in a gated community and infest it with rats. They watch as The Lancea Sanctum finds someone who can finally translate the obscure cave markings from ur-Aramaic. Then they kill him. They build fake Wyrm’s Nests to lure The Ordo Dracul and then snicker up their sleeves as the Dragons try to figure out why the occult manifestations ceased so abruptly. As for The Circle of the Crone, its loose structure makes a certain degree of disruption easy (since the Acolytes all disagree somewhat), but, past that threshold, they’re actually very hard to sabotage (since they’ve all agreed to disagree, somewhat).
The only covenant that doesn’t receive the Sabotage Artists’ malicious attentions is their own, of course. Most sabotage cadres insist that the Movement gets a pass because its lack of a unifying program makes interference redundant. Some outsiders cynically muse that the Carthians defeat themselves so thoroughly that no extra defeat is needed. Perhaps the elaborate rationales are just a whitewash on black, violent hearts.
Of course, all of this seems like a refuge for various malcontents, pointless hooligans and idiots of other stripes. That’s not the case, however. The Sabotage Artists are truly working toward a guerilla agenda of hampering the Kindred’s self-serving schemes. Anyone who underestimates the Sabotage artists as — or, worse, attempts to join them as — bomb-tossing anarchists of chaos for its own sake is in for a rude surprise. The Sabotage Artists don’t truck with stooges, and are ruthlessly effective in their methods.
Structure
Covenant Relationship: To the other covenants, the Movement is apologetic about the Wrench Monkeys, rolling their eyes and making sympathetic comments about how hard it is to keep the destructive maniacs on the leash. The Carthians make public gestures of punishment, but just between Carthians, Sabotage Artists are privately celebrated as often as they’re publicly condemned. They are the best tool in the shed when you need something stopped, be it a political maneuver, a carefully calculated race riot or a humiliating social power-grab. They’re happy to run interference, because interfering itself makes them happy. Whatever your ends, they enjoy it if a good solid screwjob is the means. They’re never available to build anything or push an outside agenda forward, but they’re great at getting others out of the way. Besides, a smart moderate always likes having unstable extremists on his side: it brings the other side’s smart moderates to the table.
Organization: Typically, only one or two Sabotage Artist coteries form in a domain, even if it’s a large one. (If there are two coteries, they hate each other.) Sabotage Artist coteries are usually organized like a dog pack: one “Top Dog” rules by bullying and aggression, maybe physical, maybe verbal. Everyone claims to be equal but is, in fact, anything but. There’s constant jockeying for position, as each tries to get high enough in the favor of the leader that he can keep the others from stealing his carefully gained (though unstated) status, and simultaneously tries to get enough backing from the others that he can oust the leader and take over.
Organization: Typically, only one or two Sabotage Artist coteries form in a domain, even if it’s a large one. (If there are two coteries, they hate each other.) Sabotage Artist coteries are usually organized like a dog pack: one “Top Dog” rules by bullying and aggression, maybe physical, maybe verbal. Everyone claims to be equal but is, in fact, anything but. There’s constant jockeying for position, as each tries to get high enough in the favor of the leader that he can keep the others from stealing his carefully gained (though unstated) status, and simultaneously tries to get enough backing from the others that he can oust the leader and take over.
Culture
Appearance: Sabotage Artists combine the work boots and flannel of a mechanical laborer with the scarves, affectations and bold hair choices of an artist. A certain degree of personal disarray is expected, along with a kind of casual techie vibe. Oil-stained dungarees are typical, with a multitool on the belt. Many are oft heralded by a faint aroma of WD-40. But prodigiously beaded dreadlocks, thick and vivid makeup or a penchant for animal prints is also common. These guidelines, with many exceptions, apply only to when the Wrench Monkeys are relaxed and in their own element. When they’re roaming out to infect and destroy, they wear whatever the sabotage of the night requires.
Assets
Haven: Security is everything for a Sabotage Artist, often accomplished by a reliance on devices. They often lair far from feed sites, since they see no percentage in drawing attention to where they sleep. It’s inconvenient, but so is being found by the Acolyte whose ceremony unexpectedly got scattered by a misdirected busload of tourists with camera-phones.
History
Background: Sabotage Artists are often Embraced into the faction for their technical skills, fearlessness and improvisational flair. Others join after becoming so disgusted by Kindred schemes that they’re willing to gamble their own survival for a chance to fuck ’em up (and establish their own reputations doing it). It should be noted that most Wrench Monkeys are headstrong: personal charisma takes a back seat to force of personality and, unless you like five-hour discussions on how to best ruin a diesel engine, social interactions with them are notably specialized. That doesn’t mean they can’t be sneaky, devious and manipulative. It just means they’re focused on purpose and results.
Type
Political, Activist
Alternative Names
Wrench Monkeys
Ruling Organization
Parent Organization