The Judas Compact or "How the Sabbat got their groove stolen"

V5 Chronicle Tips

1. The Social Satire of Vampire: The Masquerade
2. An analysis of Anarchs in Vampire: The Masquerade
3. Ten Tips to Running the Anarchs in V5 
4. Ten Tips to Running the Second Inquisition in V5 
5. Ten Tips to Running the Sabbat in V5 
6. Ten Chronicles for Sabbat PCs in V5 
7. Ten Tips to Running the Camarilla in V5 
8. Ten Tips to Running the Thin-Bloods in V5 
9. Ten Tips to Running the Tremere in V5  
10. Ten Real Life-Inspired Chronicles for V5
11. V5 NPC Update: Sullivan Dane  
12. 101 Mundane Details for V:TM Games   
13. 101 Street Crime and Personal Horror Scenarios  
14. The Judas Compact or "How the Sabbat got their groove stolen" 
15. How much should Vampire PCs and NPCs know? 
16. Ten Tips to using Touchstones in V5 
17. Why metaplot matters in the World of Darkness

    I thought I would share a recent article from my Sabbat games. I have a bit of a reputation as a Anarch fanboy (which is fair) but I actually love the Sword of Caine second-most among the undead. I absolutely love the spirituality, hypocrisy, and religious symbolism of the Black Hand. I've also done many Sabbat games where the characters are forced to try to reconcile all the various contradictory messages among its teachings.

    In Giovanni Chronicles II: Blood and Fire, the Black Monastery is introduced as a location where the Sabbat develops all of his paths. This is all Pre-Dark Ages and thus doesn't incorporate Roads of Enlightenment into the setting's history. Many of them are very similar to what the Sabbat will later follow but others are incredibly different, not insisting on their militant doctrines or the death cult's fanaticism. Quite a few are amoral by human standards but not overtly evil like the majority of Sabbat paths.

    While I, to be frank, dislike what was done with the Sabbat in Fifth Edition, I did actually think their sudden about-face on previously acceptable Sabbat practices fit with how I handled it in my games. The Sabbat is a religious organization and as we know from real life, there's always a conflict between the true believers, those using it for their own gain, and those who are somewhere in the middle.

    This is a bit of world-building about how I saw the Sabbat dealing with their own existential spiritual crisis.

The Judas Compact

    The Judas Compact is created by Sascha Vykos, Velya the Vivisectionist, Intisar the Setite, and Moncada with several other high profile figures in the Sabbat's spiritual hierarchy. It is a primarily Lasombra and Tzimisce thing but a few other Antitribu (particularly Assamite) were invited as well. Those involved in it and capable of contributing found themselves blessed with the status of Pricius or Cardinalship in the Sabbat as well as permanently guaranteeing their position in the Sword of Caine.

    It's only at the cost of their souls.

    If you believe in that sort of thing.

    The Judas Compact is essentially the key behind-the-scenes under-the-table deal that resulted in the transformation of Roads into Paths. It is one of the most important events in Sabbat history but kept completely secret from the rank and file. It is also one of the most cynical and successful acts ever done by the organization. In simple terms, the Judas Compact was a rewriting of the literature of the Roads as well as their teachings in order to benefit the Sabbat. 

    Large chunks of Kindred spirituality were completely destroyed, fake passages of the Book of Nod were created, and pamphlets for "Priests" of the Sabbat were created that were designed to essentially serve as "how to" manuals for manipulating packs into religiously throwing themselves into the jaws of their enemies.

    Getting into the nitty gritty of what was done would take days but some basic principles were set out that would come to dominate the Sabbat for centuries to come:

* Caine is at war with the Antediluvians and wants you to destroy the latter as well as their minions.
* The Antediluvians' minions are the Camarilla but also any vampire who is not Sabbat.
* Diablerie is permissible, even lauded, in the pursuit of fighting the Antediluvians' minions.
* Mass Embrace and killing of your own kind is permissible, even lauded, as long as it strengthens the holy war. You owe nothing to your cannon fodder until they prove themselves.
* All Roads/Paths of Enlightenment are subordinate to the Sabbat's greater goals as the latter's truisms are perfect as well as unquestionable.
* Each of the Roads/Paths must be modified to make sure that they divorce a follower from making any sort of compromise or peaceful interaction with humans. Separating vampires from mortal ties as well as morality is vital.
* The Sabbat is fundamentally anti-mortal religion and any traditional faith or morality is to stamped out.

    The reasoning for this is unclear as all of the initial conspirators were deep believers in their own particular paths as well as Moncada being a fanatically faithful Catholic. Nevertheless, the three conspirators recruited others to join them as well as made arrangements for their commands to be inserted into the work being conducted at the Black Monastery in 1666. Payoffs were made, assassinations, mind-control, and several people actually persuaded that this was the best path forward for the Sabbat.

    Immediate consequences for the Judas Compact were the following:

1. The Road of Heaven, Road of Chivalry, and original Road of Night were effectively banned: The latter two were warped beyond recognition by theologians at the Black Monastery with the former becoming the Path of Honorable Accord while the latter became a parody of its former self.

2. The Path of Caine was created, essentially, whole cloth as a scam religion: Taking most of the principles and ideas of the Road of Blood, they were not shared among non-Assamites but used to brainwash new Kindred into their twisted version that was heretical to Alamut's followers but similar enough for work. The fact it attracted incredibly intelligent and scholarly Kindred was something that amused Sascha Vykos to no end over the centuries.

3. The dividing of the Road of the Devil: In exchange for Moncada's aid and connections in the Lasombra hierarchy, he insisted on the outlawing of the Road of the Devil. Most of the followers were converted to the Path of Cathari that kept its hedonistic freedom-loving ways while now worshiping the God beyond. Actual demon worshipers instead took to Inistar's Path of Evil Revelations that gained many followers in the wake of the obvious attempt to drive Road followers into cultish obedience.

4. Closing Ranks around certain spiritual truths: The Path of Metamorphosis, The Righteous Path of Night, and a few other more "road friendly" views survived but these were passed down individually instead of to the masses as a whole. A general disdain for the Antitribu also became notable when discussing these Paths and the original Roads (or Paths more similar to them) remained only within the Sabbat's two main clans.

    The Judas Compact was widely successful with most traditional Road followers either converting or paying lip service to the newly accepted Paths while carrying on their studies of their original faiths in private. The fundamental disconnect between the Paths as envisioned as a means of social control and "vitae for the masses" versus the real spiritual truths as well as belief by its members have been a source of discord in the Sabbat ever since. 

    Many times, reform movements have sprung up among Kindred educated in the original Roads or who have figured out their own takes on the subject, but these have been stamped out as heresies. The Path of Evil Revelations was so much more effective at luring Sabbat hungry for truths (or power) that it was soon made into one of the most hated of all heretical faiths. To this day, there remains a diametrically opposed set of guidelines among Paths versus Roads as the former will always be crippled by the need for the Sword of Caine to control its minions.