Overview
The gem of the West Coast. Once rattled by the all-out gang wars of the 1920s, an unprecedented investment and redevelopment effort in the 50s by large companies—such as Ventrue Corporation, among others—has managed to restore some degree of safety to its streets. Enough to live without having to wonder if you'll never wake up, at least. On the Kindred side of things, Baron Baldwin, the Brujah leader of the Anarch movement which calls LA home, has forged a shaky alliance between the various subfactions of the Anarchs, in particular by grabbing hands with the venerable Ventrue Clan Elder/once Camarilla Anarch, Aina Gladvold and serves as a neutral arbiter and keystone of the movement. Inch by inch, LA is becoming more of an Anarch stronghold than it already was. But this peace threatens to be disturbed: the arrival of Archon Khoroi and the installation of a false Prince are not good omens for the Anarchs, and any sign of weakness is sure to be seized upon by one of its enemies, or even an opportunistic group of Kindred within—such as the Baron’s old disaffected Kindred-brother Chance. Only time will tell whether LA will remain in its current form.
Clans
Assamite
Although the turf wars of the early 1900s were great business for the Children of Haqim, the ensuing stabilization of LA means that Kindred with a grudge tend to duke it out with money and influence and whipping public opinion against them rather than needing the right person (extra-)dead. There are still independent Assamite in the city, but no stronger presence.
Brujah
No Anarch city is complete without a strong Brujah presence, and LA is no different. The Baron is Brujah, and so was the previous Baron, and this confers to the Clan an implicit claim to the city—even if the real politics differ, there’s a certain sense of “Us Brujah hold down the fort” among the clan. Some places the Clan has Elysium include a biker bar in the city, as well as [ another place ].
Chance, the Kindred brother to Baldwin, is known to constantly argue for zero-tolerance against Camarilla as well as Sabbat, while Baldwin believes there is merit in sticking to the spirit of the Status Perfectus, not just the word.
Setites
Very few cities welcome, or even tolerate a Setite presence. So the cult has gone underground and into a form of hibernation, keeping activities at a level enough to maintain the single temple hidden somewhere in LA’s sprawling outskirts without pursuing growth. Perhaps this can change with the right opportunity.
Gangrel
It is a well known fact that Gangrel tend not to enjoy cities as they get older. Therefore, the Gangrel in LA are few and far between, more often younger fledglings and neonates than elders. Still, an ancilla named Jess holds Clan Domain at Brother’s Scrapyard, content to watch the world go by and collect stories from Gangrel and others, and might serve as a good kick-off point for Gangrel new to the city.
Giovanni
The massive Giovanni Mansion in the outskirts of LA serves as a visible reminder of the influence the family once had over LA. The turf wars were great for business. But after Gladvold and the 1950s, they have been hedged out of direct influence by both direct action from unhappy Brujah, as well as combined interference tactics from the Ventrue and Nosferatu elders. It isn’t a huge deal to the DonAmerica isn’t crucial to the Planbut he would be more than happy to capitalize on any weaknesses and to, perhaps, kindle a new conflict that his family can profit off of.
Malkavian
Malkavians don’t have much in common, nor has there been any Malkavian with enough interest to try and make something happen, so there isn’t any specially Malkavian Elysium to talk of, or any clan structure. There are rumors that an ancient Malkavian is in torpor somewhere in LA, but nobody has been able to confirm that.
Nosferatu
The one rule of the Nosferatu is that they’re always around. Be it the shiny futuristic cities of Dubai or the worst shitholes of Chicago, they’re there. They’re always typecast as the sewer dwellers, too, and many embrace that stereotype. The Nosferatu clan holds Elysium in the Storm Drain, located in, unsurprisingly, a retrofitted and oversized storm drain. Additionally, the Warrens are clan Domain, deep in the sewers where few Kindred even think to wander.
Some Nosferatu of LA aren’t content with staying in the sewers, though. The “face” faction of Nosferatu, lead by Alex, have acquired significant above-ground influence in the form of the various Silicon Beach companies, plying information to gain often-illegal advantages over their competitors, mortal or otherwise. Clan Domain is established in Little Brother, a startup incubator in Santa Monica that operates at all hours.
The “pipes” faction of Nosferatu, lead by a Nosferatu elder known only as “Pipes”, or “the reason why you encrypt your fucking shit” or “swear on me mum, i’m not saving you if you go down that part of the sewer system,” is content with the sewers and even thinks it’s the best place to be. Away from all the other fuckers, and in the best place to undermine their efforts.
Ravnos
After the Week of Nightmares, the Ravnos clan is treated more like a cautionary tale or a fleeting figment of fancy more than something that actually exists. But they do exist, in the form of a Warrior-caste Ravnos that is just too stubborn to actually fucking die. Supposedly, she rallies the mortals in their efforts to thwart the Ventrue’s efforts to eat more of LA. That’s what they say, anyways. Nobody’s really seen her.
Toreador
LA is the Toreador place to be on the West Coast. Hollywood in general tends to be a de facto domain of the Clan, and Paramount Pictures is an actual, Baron-recognized Clan Domain. There are at least three hundred Toreador in LA, which leads to a strong Toreador scene, complete with all the cliques, social maneuvering, and petty feuds one would expect of the clan.
The current Clan Elder is a very powerful, very beautiful Kindred named Melisande, who one day decided that yes, LA seems like a great place to be for the next decade. Sybil Hahn, the previous Clan Elder, is not very happy about this.
Tremere
The LA Chantry is the finest Chantry on the West Coast. However, seeing that the West Coast is Anarch-dominated, that isn’t saying much. In fact, the Chantry feels more like a shell of something that might have been once grand, with not enough Tremere wandering the halls and perusing the library’s tomes. Though it truly used to be a great Chantry, the fall of the Camarilla Prince and the subsequent botched handling of the Revolt has sapped it of its prestige. It doesn’t help that the Regent is more concerned with his own research than politics. Recently, the Pyramid has been sending more Kindred to LA. Perhaps the Pontifex thinks that it is strategically the right time.
Ventrue
The LA Ventrue rally around a series of legally independent companies, including Venture Co, owner of Venture Tower downtown, as well as Titan Transnational and Courforatte Architecture & Construction. The Board is majority Anarch, though they do not reject Camarilla participation, and the Director Gladvold is an Anarch. While the Board is in a grey limbo of kinda-recognized-by-the-Camarilla-Ventrue (because of the Convention of Thorns) while also not-really-being-recognized-as-Ventrue (because of the Convention of Thorns), it seems to work for now.
These days, the Clan spends their effort defending its west flank against the Nosferatu and their Silicon Beach, and its east flank against the disconcertingly persistent and organized grassroots community that refuses redevelopment and gentrification. Some Ventrue instead specialize in finding ways to pry out the last few Giovanni properties from their cold, dead hands.
Others
Kuei-Jin
Kindred once believed the Kuei-Jin to be a serious threat to Cainite dominance over the West, establishing a foothold in Chinatown and refusing to acknowledge the existing power structures, but at the turn of the millennium they have systematically withdrawn from Chinatown, conducting a fighting retreat and destroying or sanitizing all intel that could be gleaned from their buildings. Some of the della Passaglia have revealed that there seems to be a sort of civil war in the motherland. Convenient for Cainites—a divided house is easier to ignore, after all.