IC:

*The following tape is shot on digital video from a camcorder. When the tape begins, you see a figure about 30 years old, dark brown hair, slightly stocky. He sits in a leather chair next to a wooden desk in a room that looks somewhat quaint in older decor. The man smiles, and vampire canines are clearly visible when he does so. Then he begins to speak, in a calm and rational voice.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the world, given what has happened tonight, it is clear that -now- is the time for someone to come forward and tell you the truth. -All- of the truth.

Because you, humanity, need to hear it. You need to understand. You need to be ready. For far too long--all of your history, in fact--we have been in the shadows. The monsters under your bed and in your closet, the howl in the darkness that makes you stay closer to the firelight. And now, once and for all, you deserve to know the truth.

My name is Samuel Keaton.

And I am a Vampire."

The man pauses as though to let the words sink in, then continues.

"Of course, we do not call ourselves that. We use the word 'Kindred', a word of deception that allows us to pretend that we are all friends, and that we can use in front of you without you being entirely clear what we speak of.

That ability--to exist beside you without you being aware--is our first priority to our existence. Once, that was not the case--indeed, your mythologies come from the fact that once upon a time, your kind knew we were there.

But then came the Inquisition--yes, the Catholic Inquisition of nearly 500 years ago, and we were targeted at least as much, if not more, than witches and heretics. Indeed, there are many Kindred who believe we were the true targets of that Inquisition.

And so, in order to eradicate our existence from your conscious minds, we developed a society of secrecy, a society where we devoted great resource and time to making us into children's tales and horror stories.

We developed a society known as the Camarilla."

He pauses a second time, and drinks from a wine glass. It is -clear- that the drink is of a darker tint than wine...a blood red, in fact.

"The Camarilla exists throughout most of the Western Civilized world, in Europe and North America. There are leaders at a local level, at a national level, and globally. Wherever you are, we exist. In nearly every town and city throughout the Western Civilized world.

Through the Camarilla, we have managed to stay deep in the shadows of the real world, living in the night as the old wives' tales would believe us to be. The Camarilla has always claimed that the best way for us to remain in existence is for you to ignore we exist. Look what happened during the Inquisition, they say--we were nearly destroyed.

That can never happen again, for when humans see something they do not understand, they immediately destroy it."

He smiles, this time without the canines. "I believe better of mankind. I believe it is our fear that is the true danger here, not yours. Once, perhaps, mankind would not have been ready for us. Now, however, you believe in aliens although most of you have never seen one. You believe in reality television, in the internet, and in digitally created armies fighting against the Empire and for the Jedi.

You can accept the truth, now. And it is time you do so. I have waited for this moment for months now, knowing that the end of the secrecy was coming. What I hope to see, why I have recorded myself, is in the hopes that this will not be the destruction of your world--but rather its salvation."

He pauses and takes another sip, his tongue licking his lips slightly.

"I imagine you all will have a million questions, and I cannot answer them all in one moment. But I -will- answer the obvious ones, the ones that I know are already within your minds."

He holds up a finger with each question he asks. "One. How does one become a vampire, a Kindred? There is only one way. One must be drained of all blood, to the edge of death, and just as the heart dies one must take a sip of a Kindred's own blood. That sip is enough for you to return to full existence as a Vampire. So yes, that part of the tales remain true. There is an additional aspect, however--each Vampire made becomes one of several familes--bloodlines, as it were, almost like the ancient royal families of Europe.

These familes number many, but include lines known as Ventrue, Toreador, Malkavian, Brujah, Nosferatu, Tremere, Gangrel, Giovanni, Lasombra, Tzmisce, Ravnos, Assamite and Setite. Each of the families is defined by a different original Vampire, and by different...abilities...that are common to those of that family.

Two. Are Vampires immortal? The answer is no, or rather, not entirely. We do not age after we are 'Embraced', another vague term that means 'becoming a Vampire'. The reason we do not age is because we are, for practical terms, dead. We have no heartbeats, nor does our hair or fingernails grow. It is the nature of the blood that makes us Vampires that allows us to maintain our existence beyond that moment of death. So if we are never harmed, then yes, we can exist for a long, long time. I personally know Kindred who have been around since the fall of the Library at Alexandria.

However, we -can- be killed. Fire will destroy us, as will being in direct sunlight. If our heads are removed that will destroy us. The stake in the heart of classic mythology is a trick we snuck past you, however--a stake will not kill us. It -will-, however- immobilize us...which has its own advantages, of course. And, of course, in this day and age, enough bullets from an Uzi (especially with rounds that explode into fire when they hit) can drop us pretty quickly as well.

And yes, this means I have now told you how to kill us. Again, it is

-my- hope that you will take my knowledge and put it to good use, not simply start the grave-searching parties. But, of course, you all have free will and must do as you think is correct.

Three. How do we stay alive? Just as the myths tell you, we must drink blood. Some of us have managed to learn to live off of the blood of animals, but the truth is most of us drink from humans. And most of the time from -willing- humans--you'd be surprised how many of you find that appealing or desirable. We must drink every other day or so, although mythology is worse than reality for once on this aspect--rarely do we kill those we feed from. And when we do, it is a mistake and that Kindred is usually dealt with very harshly by our own kind.

Four. How many Kindred are there? Several thousand, I believe, although no one has an exact count. Enough that a large city like Los Angeles, where I live, has easily 50 or more in it. Smaller cities have less--we try not to allow too many in any one place; makes the feeding too hard on the population, if we do.

Five. Tell me more about this society, the Camarilla. I can do exactly that, and add some information about the other society that formed in the Inquisition as well, a darker society of Kindred. The Camarilla is a rigid hierarchy where the rules are laid out and everyone is supposed to follow them, for the good of mankind.

The rules are simple, six in number. We call them the Traditions, but they are rules, nonetheless. The first deals with not telling humans we exist. The second says that if you 'claim' an area (such as a city or a club where you feed from), you are responsible for that area. The third says if you wish to make another Vampire, you must get permission--again, trying to keep the population down so you all don't get fed from too often. The fourth says if a Vampire you make screws up, you and that Vampire can be killed--a way to keep the first Tradition safe. The fifth is about hospitality--basically, if you are in someone else's place, play nice. The final is about destruction--only a leader of an area, the most important Kindred, can order another Kindred's death.

This last one may be a little complicated to understand, but we are basically humans who were given a long time to live but at the cost of drinking human blood. Imagine how after centuries that could make one a little...trigger happy...when someone else makes them angry. This helps to maintain a civilized society, and as a general rule stops such things as what happened at Indigo 209 from happening."

He smiles, suddenly, a real smile. "Except, of course, for tonight, where it failed utterly."

He drinks again. "Those are our rules. They are maintained at a local level by several offices. A Prince is the leader of a city, and runs it as they see fit. They have a Sheriff, who is a classic policeman for the Kindred, as we cannot for obvious reasons use normal police--since we were not supposed to exist. There are also Primogen, who are the voices for concerns in a city from a given family, such as the Brujah which is the family I was made part of when I was Embraced.

At a higher level, there are Archons--people whose job is to protect the Camarilla wherever they are sent. Envision them as the old Marshalls of the Wild West, or perhaps FBI Agents in the time of the Untouchables. And there are Justicars, who are the most powerful Kindred in a given country--Princes of the United States, or of England, for example. They have the power to kill any other Vampire in their lands. They might, for example, kill me for recording this videotape..." His voice trails off for a second, and he looks at a leather-bound book next to him on the desk. "I still feel you should all be told the truth, now, for your own good. You -deserve- the complete story, or as complete as I can make it in one videotape.

So that is the Camarilla, in a nutshell. A basically feudal system with a global overarching heirarchy. And, as I said, we are everywhere.

Indeed, many of your companies and industries are actually owned by us, through hidden and false names. But again, our intention was to remain hidden from you...although the reasons for such are no longer valid."

His voice grows more somber. "There is another group of Kindred out there, however, who are more dangerous. They are a group known as the Sabbat. They believe that you, humans, are inferior to them and that they are the next stage of human evolution. As such, they have always wanted to come out into the open and take control of your lives. Now that the Masquerade is shattered, they may well attempt to do so. If that happens, they must be stopped. We will, I guarantee you, be fighting them. I sincerely hope if mankind decides to fight us, it is the Sabbat they war against. The Camarilla is a peaceful organization, with the exception of the feeding off humans concept. I am certain we can all work something out in regards to that."

He stops and thinks for a moment. "Although it is not a Tradition, there is one last thing I should mention, and that is the concept of Elysium. These are the places of wonder and joy within your world--places like art museums and so forth. We often gather in places such as those, late at night when you cannot see us, and these places are sacred. They are places of peace, where even Kindred who are wanted by Archons or Justicars can come and go safely--they are places where the joy and wonder are so great, we do not wish to see them harmed in any way by any violence. If you ever wish to meet a Kindred safely, those would be the best places to go. Just make sure you make certain it is an Elysium immediately. That would protect you very well. In fact, if possble find the Keeper of Elysium