Caitiff (World of Darkness) - Caitiff

Caitiff

Seduced and abandoned by their sires, the Caitiff are everywhere on the fringes of Camarilla society. Clanless and unwanted, the Caitiff are the results of one night stands, infatuations, frenzied Embraces and outright mistakes. Most have hazy recollections, at best, of sire and Embrace; some have none whatsoever. Stumbling along in the haze of a new existence, each eventually discovered the keys to survival—usually in the form of another Caitiff looking out for the newcomer—or die trying.

A Caitiff's only identifying mark is a lack of identifying marks. Some Kindred theorists posit that some sort of "imprinting" between sire and childe takes place over time, allowing the younger vampire to acquire the physical characteristics of her Sire as mandated by the blood. Caitiff, however, have no such distinguishing marks—Caitiff descended from Nosferatu, for example, may be ugly, but rarely do they show the full-blown monstrosity of their vampiric ancestors. Thus it goes for other Caitiff, ones embraced by Malkavians may be a little quirky but not necessarily prey to full blown derangements, ones embraced by Ventrue may have a feeding preference but not full blown prey exclusions, and so on. An informed observer can generally guess with reasonable accuracy what a Caitiff's lineage might be, but in the end, it's rarely worth even the attempt to do so. Caitiff fill in the positions in Camarilla society that no one else really wants. While the Camarilla may take the clanless in on occasion out of a vague sense of paternalism, the clans take care of their own first and leave the scraps for the Caitiff. Some Caitiff scorn active participation in city politics as second-class citizens, while others gladly seize any opportunity as a toehold in the establishment. In the meantime, the majority of clanless skirt involvement out of self-preservation, preferring to have the putative benefits of membership in the Camarilla without being drawn into its politics.