The Second Inquisition (often shortened to SI) is a term used by the Kindred to describe the global rise in hunter activity targeting them specifically, much of which serves as a continuation of the persecutions of the original Inquisition. The term 'Second Inquisition' is frequently used to refer specifically to the Coalition, despite that conspiracy being only one part of the wider movement (albeit one of greatly outsized significance). Some conflate the Second Inquisition as a whole with the Hunters' own Reckoning.
The rise of the Second Inquisition has also seen "vampire" exit common Hunter parlance, being mostly replaced with "blankbody", referring to the low body temperature of the undead that marks them as inhuman.
History[]
In the early years of the 21st century, the intelligence agencies of the United States managed to gain access to SchreckNet and gained firsthand knowledge of the existence of a race of undead bloodsuckers that were spread in all corners of the world. Sharing their knowledge with other intelligence agencies, the united secret services contacted the Vatican, whom they knew to have experience fighting the undead. The Church accepted, granting them access to its resources as well as the experienced witch-hunters of the Society of Leopold.
After years of careful research, the Coalition had targeted Vienna as the "capital of vampires" and prepared a strike against their headquarters. In 2008, a united USSOCOM and Vatican ESOG force augmented with experienced Brazilian hunter-killer teams stormed the Vienna Chantry of Clan Tremere and destroyed it, blaming it to an ISIS terror attack to the public. London, Las Vegas, Paris, and Marseilles were largely cleared of vampiric activity, with numerous captured vampires being placed in black sites and experimented upon to discover their weaknesses.
The united might of these forces overwhelmed the undead. Domains weakened by the disappearance of elders that were called to the East by the Beckoning fell, with dozens of their number dying. The Anarchs blamed the Camarilla for failing them at a critical moment and a global revolt took place against them, further weakening the sect. Communications between domains has become a dangerous affair, with most vampire domains becoming isolated islands that fall back to using complicated codes to send each other messages. While the Camarilla has banned any form of electronic communication, the Anarchs flout this rule, skirting dangerously close to violating the Masquerade and bringing the Inquisition on their heads, but are better connected with each other as a result. The Sabbat has lost many of their strongholds and has to resort to clandestine terror attacks in other domains. The ones who fare best in this climate are, ironically, the Thin-bloods, who are human enough to throw their hunters off the hook.
This is the time of the Second Inquisition, a new burning time when the Masquerade frays and the Kindred need once more fear the kine. In these nights, vampire-hunting factions of all sizes (and levels of funding and preparation) come together and strike a fire.
Organization[]
An unnamed Toreador in the early 2010s coined the term “the Second Inquisition” for the shitstorm that’s deservedly raining down on the Kindred right now. It is, literally, a term of art, not a specific referent: One can’t call the Second Inquisition on the phone, or email them @si.gov. (Although if you do send email to that domain name, somebody reads it…) Nobody has “Second Inquisition” letterhead or a cool SI logo. Even the Vatican just considers this the same Inquisition as the one they started in the 13th century, only the fires blaze higher (and higher-tech) now as the end times near.
The Second Inquisition comprises many conspiracies. Every Bible study club, arms smuggling gang, hospital night shift, Facebook moms group, and police swing shift that takes up stakes to hunt an unbelievable threat necessitates a conspiracy. Some of those conspiracies interlock, unknowingly or by chance, within the greater movement. Not all of its participants use the same methods, or even pursue the same goals. At their basic level, however, they all burn with the sudden epiphany that vampires exist, and shudder with the terror that such a truth entails.
Orgs and cells that propagate the Second Inquisition outside of the Coalition are usually referred to as farm teams.
The Coalition[]
(Main article: Coalition (WOD))
The most powerful and most influential group within the Inquisition, and the group which arguably kickstarted the whole affair. Comprised of a union of multiple secret services and government programs with the Society of Leopold and their reunited patrons in the Vatican, the Coalition is nearly synonymous with the Inquisition and is responsible for most of its greatest successes. Having access to military grade weaponry and a fearsome network of analysts, not to mention the ability to cover up the aftermath of almost any operation, is absolutely key to the Coalition’s global success.
Law Enforcement[]
(See also: Alphabet Inquisition)
Where there are kine to feed on, there are people policing them. Local cops, FBI agents, Special Branch, Europol and others all take an interest in assaults, murders, and human trafficking, any of which can be signs of vampiric activity. Even low-key actions, such as a gunfight between Retainers or followers over a piece of territory, can draw the attention of the locals. They lack the equipment and, most crucially, the information that Five Torches UTR teams have access to, but that doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous. They make up for it in connections, local knowledge, and tenacity.
Organized Crime[]
Organized crime might not seem like a likely origin story for vampire hunters but criminals and vampires’ interest frequently intersect. Shadowy controlling stakes in business empires; using communities as shields and bank accounts; preying on the vulnerable or addicted; protecting their turf against interlopers. From the infamous Mafia, to the Russian Bratva, narcotraficantes, or postcode gangs, organized criminals’ number one concern is protecting their interests. There’s only room for one group of predators stalking the night in their city, and it’s not going to be a bunch of walking corpses.
Conspiracy Theorists[]
When an Internet community gets something into its collective mind, it’s dangerous. They’ve identified — and misidentified — mass shooters and other wanted persons, gotten involved with manhunts based only on a few minutes of blurry video footage, and accumulated knowledge bases that rival prestigious universities. It’s much easier to speculate from behind the shield of a keyboard and a high-speed internet connection that vampires and other monsters are real than it is to do so offline, face to face with skeptics. So it’s unsurprising that several passionate vampire hunting communities have arisen online. With Kindred increasingly scared to interact with the digital world, it’s harder than ever to nip communities of conspiracy theorists in the bud.
Amateurs[]
Also referred to as Helsings (by Kindred and the Coalition), capital-H Hunters (by themselves) and Lone Wolves, amateurs are solo operators, or at least remain constrained to small, like-minded cells. In some ways, they’re the classic hunters: they saw something that scarred them, lost somebody they cared about, or they were raised to believe in monsters and know one when they see one. Amateur hunters aren’t especially dangerous, but they are tenacious. They don’t present a physical threat so much as an external conscience: they’re people who’ve been hurt, sometimes even by the very vampire they’re now hunting. Yes, it would be easy to kill them but is it justified? What kind of a monster responds to a parent seeking vengeance for the death of their child with another bloody murder?
Kindred Response[]
Camarilla[]
The Camarilla has responded to the return of the Inquisition by totally retreating from a digital world they never trusted and often despised. Princes ban all online communication, even cellphone conversations about Kindred affairs, and crack down fiercely on dissent and disloyalty. They run counter-intelligence in Washington and Brussels, isolating their operations from each other as surely as they close their cities down. Every phone call rings in the ears of the NSA; even deep encryption and the Dark Web might as well be open books to these digital witch-hunters.
The sect returns to the old ways of analog spycraft, skills they mastered when John Dee spied for Elizabeth I, and when the Borgias conspired against cardinals and kings. Letter codes refer to passages in obscure editions of J.G. Ballard novels, contacts wear gloves matching the color of their aura, raven couriers make physical dead drops of USB sticks where only bats or rats can retrieve them. So far, the veil-out has contained the problem, staunched the bleeding.
Anarchs[]
The Anarchs and the unbound approach the Inquisition problem in their own style. Like drug dealers or protestors, they use burner phones, disguises, fast getaways, constant mobility, and online identity theft to stay safe. They tear out GPS units from their laptops, Dominate humans to post manifestoes and communiqués, hire Ukrainian hackers to watch their backs, and fleshcraft body doubles to fool pursuers. It’s harder than the Camarilla way, and the slow movers die fast, but it beats going completely dark.
Thin-bloods hide in plain sight, carrying on as they did when they were still human. And much to the irritation of their elders, they mostly get away with it. They take selfies with a “Bloody Mary” and a wide grin, vaguebooking about their “habit” and bad daytime comedowns. Sometimes the police find jury-rigged meth labs caked in blood, and sometimes the reports end up on the wrong desk, but in general the FIRSTLIGHT operatives in the DEA have worse monsters to deal with. A daytime interview or a medical inspection usually suffices to get a Duskborn off the hook. If the thin-blood holds a grudge against their resentful elders, well, dropping a dime on a real “blankbody terrorist” is another good way to get your case dropped. And you know, government work comes with job security – becoming an SI consultant could easily tempt any Duskborn with a grudge, which is most of them.
Gallery[]
References[]
- VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, p. 39, 56, 360-366
- VTM: Camarilla
- VTM: Second Inquisition (book)