Welcome to Jersey City

Welcome to Jersey City: A Coterie Briefing

File Under: A Friend
Date: [Current Date, 1996]
RE: Your Assignment Eyes Only

Welcome to the Barony.

Forget whatever you heard about the Camarilla. Forget the velvet gloves, the ancient traditions, and the grand halls of Elysium. This isn't Manhattan. This isn't Vienna.

This is Jersey City. It's a dead-end posting, a dumping ground, a one-square-mile insult spat from the other side of the Hudson. Our Prince was "given" this city as a test, and we are the ones paying for it.

You are not diplomats. You are not courtiers. You are the Prince's cleaners. Your job is to take out the trash, plug the leaks, and keep this whole sinking ship from dragging us—and the Masquerade—down into the muck.

This is not a domain. It is a dump. Clean it up.

The Ivory Tower: Your Camarilla

We are the only thing standing between this city and total chaos. Our territory is the only one that matters: the money. We hold the Waterfront, with its new high-rises and mortal bankers, and the respectable parts of Downtown.

Know the chain of command. Know who to trust. (Hint: no one).

The Big Wigs (Report To)

• Prince Marcel Durand (Ventrue): He is your boss. Do not forget it. He is "old money" Ventrue, offended he has to be here at all. He demands perfection and doesn't care how you get it. He lives in a sterile penthouse in Paulus Hook and sees you as his gutter-scrapers. Do not fail him. Do not annoy him.

• Sheriff "Nails" Petrova (Brujah): She is the real power on the street. "Nails" is the iron fist that enforces the Traditions. She's all business, all muscle, and seems to enjoy her job a little too much. She hates the Prince's "style" and probably sees you as his pampered pets. Do not get in her way.

Persons of Interest (Assets & Liabilities)

• "Doc" Aris Thorne (Malkavian): The city's "therapist." He runs the Montgomery Wellness Center, which is considered neutral ground. Everyone goes to him to unload. This means he knows everything. He's the Harpy and spymaster, all in one. Be very, very careful what you tell him.

• Evelyn Reed (Tremere): The "consultant." She's the Warlock, sent by her Chantry to "observe." If something... weird... happens—ghosts, magic, blood sorcery—she's the one you call. She keeps to her books in the university library.

• Sal "The Vest" Bianco (Toreador): A gossip. He runs The Gilded Cage, a struggling nightclub the Prince declared "Elysium." Sal is desperate to please, which makes him a useful, if unreliable, source of street-level rumors.

The Lay of the Land: Rivals & Monsters

The city is carved up. These are the other players.

• The Anarchs (The Rabble):

  • Leader: A charismatic Brujah named "Red" Valenti.

  • Turf: The Docks, The Heights.

  • The Problem: They're organized. Too organized. They preach brotherhood and equality, and a lot of disenfranchised Kindred are listening. They are a direct, public challenge to the Prince's authority.

The Autarkis (The Thorn):

• Leader: "The Countess" Alexia Vros (Toreador).

• Vibe: "This is my town. Stay in yours."

• Turf: All of Hoboken.

• The Problem: She is a powerful, solitary elder who refuses to bow to the Camarilla or the Sabbat. Her "one-vampire state" on our border is a screaming political headache for the Prince. She enforces her borders with lethal force. Do. Not. Cross. Into. Hoboken.