According to legend, vampires originated with Caine, a biblical character who slew his brother Able and cursed him with immortal life and the blood thirst. After wandering the wilderness for many years, he once again lived among mortals and created a city and progeny, a small number of vampires who still carry the "curse". The city was destroyed and the later generations scattered to appear periodically as a secret force in history. The bulk of the presently existing vampires constitute the sixth and later generations, and they face the pressure to create no more vampires as it is believed that the blood thins, and powers diminish as each generation from Caine is created.

Beginning in 1435, the Inquisition was able to arrest and kill many of the Kindred. It stamped out whole blood lines and put them to the true death in the fire. This period of the attack drove the vampire community , which had been lived somewhat openly on the edge of human society, completely underground. In 1486 at a global convocation a secret worldwide network was established and named for the small secret rooms in which meetings were held. It established the law of the Masquerade, the attempt to convince the world that either all vampires were dead or, better still, never existed. The Masquerade demanded that all vampires make a reasonable effort at secrecy. Then, as a group the vampire community initiated an effort to convince the world that they had never existed.

Their accumulated wisdom of the near immortal vampires was turned over to intelligent mortals who then turned their attention to the development of science and the suppression of superstition. In that process the early belief in vampires was crushed. The Masquerade, however, is currently threatened by the mysticism which has arisen through a combination of forces- phychedelic drugs, the new music and the establishment of the vampire image in popular culture. Those affected by the new mysticism are ready to believe in the existence of vampires. There is also a generation gap between those vampires who created the Masquerade and understand it's necessity and those created in the last century whose brashness is seen by the elders as calling unwelcome attention to the vampire community.

The Camarilla is composed of the vampires from seven major blood lines or clans, members in the clan being defined by the lineage of the one who transformed the person into the Kindred. The seven clans who compose the Camarilla are the Brujah, the Gangrel, the Malkavian, the Nosferatu, the Toreador, the Tremere and the Ventrue. In eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, the power of the Camarilla is challenged by the Sabbat. Like the Camarilla, it includes members from a variety of clans, most prominently the Lasomba and the Tzimisce. Unlike the Camarilla which rules by political actions, the Sabbat tends to prize brute force and rules by fear and physical violence.

In ancient times, vampires lived together openly at the edge of human society. During the last 500 years, however, they have moved incognito through the world of mortals much as a hunter moves in the forest of the beasts. The worldwide vampire society exists as a relatively small parallel society beside that of mortals and largely of apart of the awareness of it. Largely urban, vampire communities exist in most of the major cities of the world. The size of any given local vampire community can roughly be estimated on a 100,000 to one ratio. Vampires in each city structure their life in various ways, but one common pattern is to form around a strong man, a prince. In any case, vampires who enter a new city have to present themselves to the powers that are established there. To simply start hunting is considered a violation of the vampire order.

Quietly, Ventrue began to gather the tools that would allow him to withstand the masters of these other super natural creatures. He also created an underground sanctuary to house them. The other vampires were jealous of Ventrue's possessions. When the First City was destroyed by a flood, he gathered the surviving artifacts and over saw the building of the Second City, in which he created a hiding place for artifacts and a jar containing some of Caine's blood. When that city fell to a revolution by the mortals, his treasures were secure and never found. The Nosferatu continue to search for them. After the fall of that Second City, the Ventrue scattered, but eventually emerged as a powerful force among the Etruscans now led by their Ventrue ruler Tinia, conquered the Italian peninsula in the eighth- century B.C.E. One of Tinia's progeny, Collat, overthrew the Etruscan leadership and became the ruler of Rome. The Ventrue were the invisible power behind the development of the Roman Empire.

Meanwhile, the Brujah settled and ruled the Carthage, across the Mediterranean and operated quite openly. They threatened Rome and made allies with the enemies of the Ventrue in the city. They allied themselves with the Malkavian who were fighting the Brujah in Sicily. Slowly the other clans allied themselves with the Ventrue. When the city was finally destroyed, it was burned and the ground salted. The price of gaining allies was to open Rome to the other clans, and some leadership was needed. Camilla, the Ventrue leader stepped forward.

Not without difficulties, the Ventrue directed the course of the Roman Empire, eventually manipulating Constantine to declare Christianity as the state religion as a means of stabilizing society. Events were basically favorable, although vampires tended to divide into warring factions, until the 13th century and the coming of the Inquisition. In 1252, the Inquisition uncovered the first Ventrue and soon turned on vampires systematically. The devastation wrought by the Inquisition led to the formation of the Camarilla, the coalition of the seven clans. They were immediately called upon to deal with the revolt of the Anarchs, those vampires who had no respect for the elder vampires, and the opposition of the Sabbat, a coalition of vampire clans not a part of the Camarilla. The Ventrue took the lead in these battles.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Ventrue spread around the world and prospered as the modern age emerged. The Ventrue organized itself into a number of directorates (corporations) in every major city in the Western World. The directorates, managed by the clans more powerful members, operate to continue and spread the clan's influence. There is also a senior board of directors that guides the international development.

The Ventrue live by tradition. They support the Masquerade and in addition have traditions peculiar to themselves. Foremost among the traditions is that of sanctuary. Any Ventrue can demand a safe haven in the home of another. Also younger members of the clan are expected to defer to their elders. The Ventrue keep up contacts with mortals and through subtle means try and exert control over human society. As a result of their organizational skills and political savvy, the Ventrue are most likely to hold the office of prince in the vampire community of any given city.