Sabbat Inquisition

The Sabbat Inquisition is the agency that enforces the internal orthodoxy of the Sabbat.

Inspired by the mortal Inquisition, the Sabbat Inquisition primarily targets infernalists, such as the practitioners of Dark Thaumaturgy. The Inquisition also targets heretics: apologists for (or agents of) the Camarilla or the Antediluvians, and others who deny Caine or preach against Noddism. Although Lilith cults are a popular target of the Inquisition, the sect nevertheless retains an underground network of Bahari who follow the Path of Lilith.

The Inquisition was founded by Priscus Gustav Mallenhous in 1804, who had encountered a cult of demon-worshippers in Europe and saw the need to prevent such groups from infiltrating the Sabbat. The Priscus was assisted by the Shepherds of Caine, a Montreal-based pack of Noddists whose members included future inquisitors Alfred Benezri and Soeur Joanne. By the end of the century, the Inquisition, now led by Soeur Joanne, had become a political tool, and lost its ability to enforce the Code of Milan. Julian of Avignon, an Assamite antitribu and Black Hand dominion, met with Alfred Benezri in 1911 to plan a radical reform of the Inquisition &mdash; a reform that could only come about if Joanne and her inner circle were eliminated.

In 1919, Soeur Joanne was destroyed by Black Hand forces led by Julian, and the Inquisition fell to ruin. Julian stood down as a dominion and reestablished the Inquisition in 1924, at least in part because he recognized that the Black Hand was being manipulated by an outside party (namely the True Black Hand, although Julian was unaware of this group's identity). Julian thus became the first Cainite to hold the title of Grand Inquisitor, and retained the title for decades despite at least a dozen assassination attempts, some or all of which were orchestrated by the True Hand. Julian was killed by his own sire under order of the True Hand in 1970, though Julian managed to slay the traitor before he died. Julian's successor did not emerge until 1973, when Maria Sandoza became the sect's second Grand Inquisitor.

Individual inquisitors hold a level of authority analogous to the sect's templars; inquisitors can be seen as a subset of templars. Despite Julian's role in the Inquisition's renaissance (or perhaps because of it), the Sabbat Inquisition has many rivals or outright foes within the Black Hand, and vice versa. All templars (including inquisitors) are formally barred from membership in the Black Hand, and vice versa; the only two Cainites who ever attempted to join both groups vanished without a trace before either one could complete their initiation.