When Caine slew his brother Abel, he was forever cursed and transformed into the first of the Vampires. Today, his blood still flows amidst the Vampires of the world. Silently, they survive alongside humanity, their need to feed upon humanity a price paid for immortality.
With time, clans began to appear, distinct bloodlines that developed approaches to their Unlife in unique manners. And as clans appeared, so did schisms in the hierarchy of the Kindred. The strongest today are the Camarilla, a nearly-businesslike association of a number of allied Vampire clans powerful in the central and western United States, and the Sabbat, a group of Vampires often conceived to be diabolic by those outside their group.
Today, the Camarilla and Sabbat both live in fear of Gehenna, the return of the Antediluvian Vampires. In the past, those of the Third Generation have risen up from their torpor and distance from humanity to destroy the lesser Kindred and feast upon their blood. It is said that even now the Antediluvians may be awakening.