The Non-Aligned

Some clans watch the sects tear at each other in the name of the Jyhad and decide they want no part of it. The four independent clans carry the pedigree of true clans, not the makeshift bloodlines that rise and vanish every few nights, and all four share the same refusal to be drafted into somebody else's war. Certainly, some of their younger members drift into the Camarilla or the Sabbat, but the elders of the independent clans answer to designs of their own, inscrutable schemes that might be derailed by something as petty as swearing themselves to a sect.

It would be naive to assume the average member of a non-aligned clan is utterly devoted to the clan's ideals. Like every other Kindred, independents are vampires first and clan members second. Most put their own agendas first, whether those ambitions happen to coincide with the clan's designs or not.

That only makes matters worse for outside observers: an independent vampire is usually an unknown quantity, with no sect politics or clan code to make their next move easier to guess.

And there is more...

Rumor has it that more elders of the ancient clans are awake than among any other lineage. Even so, the childer of the independent clans go about their affairs as though nothing were wrong, showing their clans the same loyalty as ever. If they are pawns of their Antediluvian sires, they seem not to realize it... or worse, they do realize it and accept the bargain.

The four independent clans share very little beyond their disdain for the sects. Each pursues its own ends, and each understands its place in the Jyhad differently. Suspicious even of one another, they keep their own laws in the ground between Camarilla tradition and Sabbat chaos.

The view from outside

The Camarilla: As if we did not already have enough to worry about, those vipers insist on playing every side at once. They do not do it out of goodwill; creatures like that do nothing without profit. They are more than capable of tipping the balance of the Jyhad, and they know it. I would pray they choose wisely... if I still believed anyone was listening.

-Anne Bowesley, Prince of London.

The Sabbat: They are too weak to challenge our power... yet too dangerous to crush underfoot without cost. Now and then we lose a pack, or worse, to sheer stupidity; only a fool would drag a Serpent from its lair or try to outplay one of those damned Giovanni on their own ground. Still, we learn. We learn where the so-called "free clans" are strongest, and where they are brittle. They will not look so formidable when the earth splits open and the sun runs red. On that, I give my word.

-Cicatriz, Bishop of Tijuana.