Vampire Lore

The lore here is considered IC, and known by Vampires from the region, or easy enough to find out.

Settlement
There were no vampires, outside of the rare few Gangrel, Nosferatu and other assorted breeds that had proper claims to America. Not until the first European settlers had arrived, at least.

Vampire history starts with the Mayflower, but the actual colonization of the America's has been well documented. Many of the vampires who had arrived initially found their home in one of these port cities, before moving on to the rest of the land.

Many of those who had left were not nobles, but those tired of the rule of the old guard back in Europe. Boston was a settlement of such free spirits that wanted to escape their old bonds.

Anarch Boston
While the old guards of Europe had tried to keep their rule on the continent across the sea, it never took. Instead, the spirit of liberty rung true. Boston, slowly, and almost by necessity became an Anarch stronghold, with no proper rule or claim. Vampires from the era can speak of the changing of the guards; how every month, a new somebody would claim to be the duke or the rightful heir from Europe, before promptly being put down.

For almost 100 years, the city remained as the main port that anyone leaving Europe would come through. There was true freedom here, and while most of the people who came only wanted passage to their proper places to be, some remained around.

Notable among them is the oldest (known) vampire, Inadora Belov. Her claim is that she served as the Duke of Boston many years ago, back when the small town was still living off the supplies the Mayflower had dropped off. Others claim that the oldest is Anastasia Illium, though with her status in the Sabbat, many of them heed the view that Inadora is in fact the oldest if only for respect.

Sabbat Boston
From the 1600's to the 1700's, Boston was purely Anarch and independent from the rest of Vampiric Society. It was a bastion of freedom and Individuality, but such an action made the oldest, and those interested in power leave. Cities like New York, Washington, Maryland were far more interesting for those wanting more and a stronger community. Soon enough, Camarilla strongholds built up around the colonies, leaving those disillusioned with the constricting thorns to raise together.

No one is entirely sure when Boston had flown the colors of the sabbat, but many claim it was when Anastasia had become the Duke. Her policies favored the sabbat, and like water boiling with a frog sleeping, it was too late to stop the change. Slowly, the city had changed. What was once a bastion of independence became an area controlled by the Black Hand.

By the 1800's, the city was Sabbat controlled, under the guise of a Tzimisce. Anastasia Illium willingly stepped down, and the kindred associated met in a location as The Black Cathedral. The city itself had seemed strong and powerful, an unbreakable bastion of Vampiric Supremacy.

And like any unbreakable bastion, it broke.

The War of 1812
The war of 1812 was not seen at all by the Kindred, who had assumed the war was going to pass by the city as it was too far from the Canadian-American border. To their shock, and to the deaths of MANY of the Sabbat officials, they were purged in fire. This strike was unknown, not caused by the Camarilla at all, and came from what seemed to be nowhere.

This motion singlehandedly destroyed the sabbat empire, and the Tzimisce who led them. Many of the Black Hand who had worked and lived here were executed by the soldiers and Native Indians -- Not for being Vampires, but for the crime of being European.

Not just the Sabbat Stronghold, but Boston itself was destroyed.

Hamilton
Hamilton was built on the ashes 3 years later, a makeshift town. The sabbat had no claim over it, and after the war, many kindred just avoided the area with scorn. Slowly however, the old Camarilla nearby moved to it, expecting the town to be nothing less than a frontier village.

And a frontier village it remained. While initially Hamilton started off as Camarilla, the Sabbat returned in numbers. Bloody fights and skirmishes lasted throughout Hamilton's history, with the switching of power and of who's in charge happening at least once every 30 years. This created an odd sense of a status quo, one that still existed between the Ancillae. Many of them are fervent of their devotion to their cause, otherwise, the idea of acceptance and compassion would be a quick execution in a city wrought by conflict.

Of course, this changed when Modernity came.

Sentinel And Brother Eye
Hamilton being Camarilla for the last 80 years was more of an accident that the vampires did not cause. The wars and constant swapping ended with the advent of Sentinel being introduced as a CCTV system. The clandestine wars were suddenly able to be monitored, and the one main time the Sabbat had ignored it to attack, they were swiftly shut down by outsiders. The last major war happened in 1965, and for the last 80 years, the city remained in Camarilla hands.

The inquisition seemed to be aware of them, monitoring the city. While many of the powers to remain out of sight remained viable against the peepers, the warfare that defined Hamilton was swiftly shut down with the outside agent. The Camarilla found themselves winning a war; not because they had won, but because they had failed to lose when it was their turn.

Many of the Camarilla, and the Sabbat, see the Brother Eye (The Sentinel System) as a bigger threat to Kindred than each other. Yet, a singular event proved how fragile that 'protection' was.

The Sabbat Incursion of 1998
Frustrated by the lack of change, the Sabbat had tried something different. Many of the Kindred in Hamilton were barely 200 years old, and still had ties to their humanity. The Sabbat, in their wisdom, targeted the long forgotten descendants of any notable kine, mass-embracing them into a shovelhead war. Ironically enough, they had picked December 21st, 1998 to December 31st of 1998.

The Sentinel System was aware of the intrusion, but did not respond. This bloody, bloody war resulted in many of the newer neonates killing their own families, who had turned mad from their experience in the dark. The current prince, Raphael, had the unpleasant task of killing his own grand-daughter, who, rather than being embraced, was crafted into a Tzimisce abomination as a 'gift'.

Noone in the Camarilla, nor the Sabbat, are aware or sure why Brother Eye didn't trigger the inquistion. The rumour mill states that since none of the kindred are 'citizens', they do not earn the same protection as civilians did -- a major chance of the incursion of 1998. Others say that the eye was shut down for the ten days.

Most civilians remember this as a riot and minor gang war, but the Camarilla still remember the truth.

Very few forgive, or forget.

Now
The bloody war now in their past, outside of a major skirmish, the newest generation of Neonates are aware of their fragile lives. The Sabbat still want to overtake the city, while the peace that the Camarilla hold seems to be in the hands of another power completely.

Both sides wish the end of the Sentinel Program, or at least use to avoid it on their side. And most importantly, both sides wish for Hamilton to be theirs.