The Inner Circle is the organizing council of the Camarilla. Practically nothing is known about the Inner Circle, which takes pains to keep the identity of its members hidden. The public face of the Inner Circle are the Justicars and their Archon assistants. Members of the Inner Circle elect Justicars and otherwise establish the principles of Camarilla law. The Inner Circle is sometimes called the "Ivory Tower"[1] or the "Inner Seven".[2]
The Inner Circle is often assumed to be a council of the most powerful Princes in the Camarilla. It is thought that Hardestadt, one of the sect's Founders, holds a seat in the Inner Circle.
Members (VTES)[]
As of the pre-1999 Timeline based upon Vampire: The Eternal Struggle continuity, the limited edition expansion set Dark Sovereigns (1995) names the following as the then current Inner Circle:
- Alexandra of Clan Toreador
- Arika of Clan Ventrue
- Etrius of Clan Tremere
- Harrod of Clan Nosferatu
- Gwendolyn of Clan Brujah
- Leandro of Clan Malkavian
- Stanislava of Clan Gangrel
Original Members[]
At a carefully orchestrated Conclave in a small town outside Vienna in 1504 CE, the Founders of the Camarilla who were coming to be called the Justicars at the time held a vote to elect the next group of Justicars. They also had the assemblage vote to give themselves authority over the Justicars as the Inner Circle. This vote was controversial and the Founders had to pull many strings and cash in many boons to pull it off. They succeeded, establishing themselves as the first of members of the Inner Circle.[3] They were:
- Adana de Sforza (Brujah)
- Milov Petrenkov (Gangrel)
- Camilla Banes (Malkavian)
- Josef von Bauren (Nosferatu)
- Rafael de Corazón (Toreador)
- Mistress Fanchon (Tremere)
- Hardestadt the Elder/Younger (Ventrue)
Infiltration[]
By 1524, a male member of the Inner Circle was impersonated by a fleshcrafted doppelganger in an effort to funnel information to the Sabbat. The other Inner Circle members immediately noticed the impostor and began feeding misinformation to the spy. Eventually Justicar Mary Anne Blaire discovered this and was executed to protect the secret, so that they could continue to feed misinformation to their enemies. This lasted for several more years after her death.[1]
Assuming the Inner Circle at this time were the same as in 1504, and noting that the impostor appears to have been male, this would mean that the spy took the place of (and perhaps killed) Milov Petrenkov (clan Gangrel), Josef von Bauren (clan Nosferatu), Rafael de Corazon (clan Toreador), or Hardestadt (clan Ventrue).
Meetings[]
The Inner Circle meets every 13 years in Venice, and at these meetings they select new Justicars and further decide the direction of the sect, as outlined in the Promise of 1528 with the Giovanni Clan.[4] At their discretion, the Inner Circle holds the right to convene at a different location, such as Ghent in 1998.[5] Every Clan is permitted one representative, usually the eldest member of the clan, as only the eldest may cast the Clan’s vote.
Using the knowledge that they met in 1998 (the date Xaviar was appointed to be Justicar), we can move backwards to determine previous years in which they have gathered. Therefore, the years they have met include:
15th century[]
- 1491: First gathering of Elders which later forms the Camarilla in 1493 at the Convention of Thorns.
16th century[]
- 1504: Second meeting, held in the early months of the year in a small town outside Vienna. At this meeting the Founders, who had served as Justicars until this point, led a small Conclave of invited Camarilla members to vote on new candidates to fill all seven Justicar positions, as the Founders became the Inner Circle, a supervisory council over them. Many present object to the creation of such a powerful group, but the Founders call in significant boons to tip the scales and appoint themselves the Inner Circle. They elect as Justicars:
- Targin of clan Brujah
- Griga of clan Gangrel
- Lethe of clan Malkavian
- Anachriss of clan Nosferatu
- Lenore Braundice of clan Toreador
- Holz of clan Tremere
- Democritus of clan Ventrue.[3]
- 1517: Third meeting
- 1530: Fourth meeting. This is the first meeting after the Promise of 1528, so it may be the first of the Inner Circle's traditional meetings in Venice.
- 1543: Fifth meeting
- 1556: Sixth meeting
- 1569: Seventh meeting
- 1582: Eighth meeting
- 1595: Ninth meeting. This meeting was nearly attacked by an enormous Sabbat war pack, who were given information on the Conclave's location by the traitorous Justicar Paul Pierre LaMont. Federico DiPadua and other Archons stopped the assault before the Inner Circle could be killed and LaMont was placed on the Red List.[6]
17th century[]
- 1608: Tenth meeting
- 1621: 11th meeting
- 1634: 12th meeting
- 1647: 13th meeting
- 1660: 14th meeting. This is the meeting at which the term "Archon" becomes official as a response to the growing power of the Sabbat in the New World. The idea was that the Archons represented the increasing power of the Camarilla (and the Inner Circle) throughout the world.[7]
- 1673: 15th meeting
- 1686: 16th meeting
- 1699: 17th meeting
18th century[]
- 1712: 18th meeting
- 1725: 19th meeting. One member of the Inner Circle during this time was a fleshcrafted doppelganger of the real council member funneling intel to the Sabbat. The rest of the council knew this and had been giving false information to this mole. Justicar Mary Anne Blaire discovered this the year before and thought that the entire Inner Circle was compromised. She was executed to protect the secret.[1]
- 1738: 20th meeting
- 1751: 21st meeting
- 1764: 22nd meeting
- 1777: 23rd meeting
- 1790: 24th meeting
19th century[]
- 1803: 25th meeting
- 1816: 26th meeting
- 1829: 27th meeting
- 1842: 28th meeting
- 1855: 29th meeting
- 1868: 30th meeting
- 1881: 31st meeting
- 1894: 32nd meeting
20th century[]
- 1907: 33rd meeting
- 1920: 34th meeting
- 1933: 35th meeting
- 1946: 36th meeting. This meeting may have been held early, as the Inner Circle met in the ruins of a newly liberated Venice in June of 1945 to discuss cracking down on the Anarchs in response to the formation of the Anarch Free State.
- 1959: 37th meeting
- 1972: 38th meeting
- 1985: 39th meeting
- 1998: 40th meeting. Held in Ghent. The following Justicars are appointed at this meeting:
- Jaroslav Pascek, Justicar of Clan Brujah
- Maris Streck, Justicar of Clan Malkavian
- Cock Robin, Justicar of Clan Nosferatu
- Madame Guil, Justicar of Clan Toreador
- Anastasz di Zagreb, Justicar of Clan Tremere
- Lucinde, Justicar of Clan Ventrue
- Xaviar, Justicar of Clan Gangrel
- 2011: 41st meeting. The following Justicars are appointed at this meeting:
- Juliet Parr, Justicar of Clan Malkavian
- Manuela Cardoso Pinto, Justicar of Clan Brujah
- Geoffrey Leigh, Justicar of Clan Gangrel
- Molly MacDonald, Justicar of Clan Nosferatu
- Diana Iadanza, Justicar of Clan Toreador
- Ian Carfax, Justicar of Clan Tremere
- Lucinde, Justicar of Clan Ventrue And in addition:
- Kasim Bayar, Justicar of the Assamite Schismatics
Future Meetings[]
- 2024: 42nd meeting
- 2037: 43rd meeting
- 2050: 44th meeting
- 2063: 45th meeting
Timeline Contradictions[]
Like the timeline of the Anarch Revolt in general and the secrecy of a group of paranoid vampire Elders in particular, it is not known for sure at what date the first gathering and formation of the Camarilla during the 15th century took place. One pair of sources states that the first meeting was around 1394[8] or 1435,[9] and the Camarilla formed in 1450, while another source states 1435 as the official founding date and 1486 as the first Convention,[10] with 1504 being the second meeting during which new Justicars other than the founders were elected.[11] Others state 1486[12] as the founding date. Given the repetition of various dates, but the unclarity of events that took place, the inconsistency might be the result of typos from the writers, sloppy scholarship, failing memories or evasive statements of Elders or even attempts of Dominate and similar mind-altering Disciplines.
The timeline above counts mathematically from the last sure date that the Inner Circle convened, as stated in both Children of the Night and Guide to the Camarilla. Since all sources agree that the Inner Circle met in an interval of thirteen years, the resulting list of dates should, in theory, be as close as possible.
Trivia[]
It is possible that Lutz von Hohenzollern was or still is a member of the Inner Circle.
References[]
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- VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 26
- VTM: Los Angeles By Night, p. 27-28