Summary
Fans of supernatural horror can relish in the World of Darkness as a vampire inVampire: The Masquerade.Called Kindred, vampires in this set of TTRPG games constantly struggle to maintain their humanity while satiating their hunger for blood. And while the Camarilla Sect enforces the Masquerade to ensure Kindred remain like humans, the Sabbat Sect want vampires to claim their place as the rightful rulers of the mortal realm.
InVampire: The Masquerade, the Sabbat is a misunderstood Sect, often associated with radical vampires out to cause wanton violence. However, players who want to try games likeSins Of The Siresmight want to learn more about the Sabbat before they engage in aVampire: The Masqueradeexperience.
Updated June 22, 2025, by Rhenn Taguiam:With The Chinese Room taking the reins in developingVampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, players meet a beseiged Seattle from a different perspective. While the Emerald City is still at the brink of war between unknown Kindred parties, players now take the role of a Vampire Elder instead of a freshly-sired Kindred. As a more experienced vampire, players have a bigger role to play in the fate of Seattle at the brink of an all-out supernatural war. However, instead of maintaining order, a player may want to indulge in their vampiric nature — exactly the kind of tenets the Sabbat preach. Before becoming a part of the Sword of Caine, players may want to know a brief background on the Sect, its origins since the First Inquisition, as well as its Paths of Enlightenment.
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13A Primer On The Sabbat
Often a misunderstood Sect, the Sabbat could simply be described as a group of vampires who see themselves as superior creatures to humans. Self-proclaimed as the Sword of Caine, the Sabbat’s tenets shape them into monstrous beasts that constantly wage the Gehenna War against the Antediluvians and their sympathizers, specifically on behalf of Caine, who suffered death at the hands of his own children.
At its core, the Sabbat wants to shape society with vampires lording over mortals. They see being subjected to the Beast as a means to achieve this. Despite their indulgence in their vampiric powers, the Sabbat is far from invincible. Their tenets, which often cross into inhumane territory, are usually a turn-off, and their habit of Blood Bonding their members could be used against them. However, some vampires see the excess of “freedom” in the Sabbat a more worthwhile option than beingcontrolled by the Camarilla.
12Enter The First Inquisition
As with the other Kindred Sects, the Sabbat also saw their roots connected to the First Inquisition. Before the Sabbat formed during the Convention of Thorns, they were a part of a rebellion known asthe First Anarch Revolt. In this rebellion, younger Kindred fought back against their Elders, who pit them against witch-hunters and inquisitors who targeted the supernatural.
However, a crucial part of this history began in the 13th century, when the Albigensian Crusade ended up revealing the truth of vampires to the Catholic Church. This resulted in the creation of the Inquisition, who forced Elders to commit atrocities such as mass embraces in an effort to defend themselves. This tactic would become a Sabbat signature.
11The First Anarch Revolt
The creation of the Sabbat coincided with the First Anarch Revolt. Having occurred during the Inquisition, the First Anarch Revolt started when elders (older vampires) decided that it was much safer to hide behind a “masquerade” andform a secret organizationof vampires instead of taking up arms against the Inquisition that was killing neonates (younger vampires).
Realizing that their elders were more than willing to sacrifice them for their own survival, the neonates decided enough was enough and turned on their elders. The first largely-known instance of Kindred taking up arms was when the Brujah Tyler led a resistance against the Ventrue Hardestadt the Elder, who was at the time leading the meetings that created the Camarilla, and ended with Tyler diablerizing the Ventrue.
10The Lasombra & The Tzimisce Connection
There’s a particular reason why the Sabbat favor the tradition of diablerie or sucking a vampire dry, and this may be connected to the Sabbat’s founding Clans: the Lasombra and the Tzimisce. After news of Hardestadt’s defeat spread, it was these two Clans that started to move against not just their respective elders, but also their Clan’s progenitors, the Antediluvians.
The first notable campaign occurred in Italy, where Gratiano de Veronese of theshadow-manipulating Lasombraled an attack on the sleeping Lasombra Antediluvian, which he diablerized. News of this attack spurned the flesh-crafting Tzimisce of Romania to action, where leader Lugoj diablerized the Tzimisce Antediluvian.
9The Convention Of Thorns: Enter The Sabbat
The First Anarch Revolt lasted seven years, until existing Kindred gathered in the Convention of Thorns in 1493. This resulted in a variety of things, including theformation of the Camarillaas the organization to protect Kindred with the Masquerade, and Anarchs being their own entities provided they don’t breach it.
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Those who didn’t approve of the Convention’s result, which was mostly the Tzimisce and Lasombra, separated into packs that began harassing the humans of the elders’ settlements, most of whom called them the beasts of “the sabbat” or the midnight hour of witches and devils. The Sabbat was formally created after Tzimisce and Lasombra met with other Anarch malcontents in Majorca, Spain.
8Not Immune To Civil Wars
While Sabbat principles prioritize Kindred independence and rejection of Antediluvian influence, the lack of any foundation of these beliefs is boththe greatest strength and weaknessof the Sect. As such, the Sabbat has actually had as many as four civil wars. These wars led to various groundbreaking elements in current Sabbat affairs, including:
7Modern Times, The Beckoning, & The Gehenna War
Unfortunately for the Sabbat, its current struggles didn’t end in modern times. They are currently facing a Fourth Civil War due to various events happening all at once. This has currently shaken the current status quo of the Sabbat:
6The Paths Of Enlightenment
When a Kindred decides to become a member of the Sabbat, they essentially discard their Humanity and any opportunities of fulfilling the Masquerade. Instead, a Sabbat member follows a Path of Enlightenment that corresponds to their preferred way of connecting to the Beast. While this runs the risk of the Sabbat coming to contact withthe Second Inqusition, they give the Sabbat much-needed freedom from the confines of the Masquerade. Some of the known Paths include:
5A Penchant For Mockery
Given how the Sabbat came to life as a rejection of the Convention of Thorns, it’s notable how a lot of Sabbat culture and organization is tied directly to mocking various aspects of Kindred and human life, including:
4Blood Bonds & Vaulderie
While Kindred mostly drink blood from mortals, it’s totally possible forvampires to drink bloodfrom their own kind. However, this runs the risk of Blood Bonds, which forces Kindred to become addicted and wholly attached to the owner of the vampire blood they drink. It’s these Blood Bonds that elders use to subjugate younger vampires in recent times, and the same system that vampires joined the Sabbat to escape.
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Tzimisce, among the Sabbat, found a solution, however. They discovered that they can cut their existing Blood Bonds through a ritual called the Vaulderie, which had Sabbat packs contribute their own blood and have everyone drink it. Thing is, the Vaulderie removed existing Blood Bonds but replaced them with a weaker bond that had members of a Sabbat pack be much closer with each other - effectively just replacing one bonding system with another.
