Milan by Night, 1526 

An Alliance of Shadows

Chronicle Background

Welcome to Milan. One of the greatest and wealthiest duchies in Italy, ruled for generations first by the signeurial Visconti dukes, and then the upstart Sforza, whose rule was finally legitimized in 1495, and all but collapsed when the Camarilla, and their mortal French allies, invaded in 1499.

Milan, chief among rebels and holdouts, whose proud Ventrue Prince put personal honor and Caine's ancient Tradition of the sovereignty of Domain over the authority of a distant Camarilla council and their roving Justicars. For that, Ercole de Hauteville's fate was to become an example of what befell all those who rebelled against the new order – he and most of his house were destroyed, and many of the city's Cainites were driven from their homes or forced to surrender.

Thus started a conflict that has raged for a quarter century – between the Camarilla regents, younger childer itching to carve out a domain for themselves, out of the blood of those who once ruled these lands, and the native Milanese, who have learned to put concerns of clan and old grudges aside, at least long enough to spill some foreign Camarilla blood. Back and forth the war has gone, even as the French soldiers have overrun disorganized Italian defenses, and been overwhelmed in turn by the Spanish, Swiss and German troops of Charles V, King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor. The duchy has become a battleground on which skirmishes are fought between mortal and immortal forces all determined to shape the destiny not only of Milan, but all Italy.

None are so determined as Marius dell' Aquila, the firebrand Lasombra heir to an ancient legacy, grandchilde of the notorious Guy dell' Aquila, Milan's most powerful and devious prince ever. Aided by his Sire, her Tzimisce consort, the Lasombra kinsmen of his Spanish wife, and a variety of anarch allies, Marius takes his throne back with devastating effect after the Battle of Pavia in 1525. At last he sits on his grandsire's throne – and faces the greatest challenge yet of his unlife. For as his grandsire's own demise over a century before so clearly demonstrated, it is one thing to win a battle, or gain a throne. It is quite another thing to keep it.

Realizing from his own bitter experience that no single prince, no matter how old or powerful, can stand up to the combined might and resources of the Camarilla, Marius has taken steps to insure not only his own reign's survival, but that of dozens of other princes and voivodes caught in a similar position – particularly among the Lasombra of Italy and Spain, and the Tzimisce houses of the East. For while one prince is vulnerable, an alliance of princes sworn to aid each other in times of trouble might be enough to stem the tide of the Camarilla's military superiority. To form a counter-alliance against the Camarilla seems to be the only practical solution. An alliance not unlike the Camarilla in some ways, but totally different in others – one that respects the sovereign independence of its members, and forces no prince to bow to the will of others outside his Domain. In theory, it seems an idea worth pursuing – and to that end, a number of unaligned princes have sent their representatives to Milan, to hammer out the terms of their alliance, and prepare for the Camarilla assault that is sure to come.

In theory, the need for such a Cainite alliance is not in dispute, nor is the desire for both trustworthy allies and local prerogative of princes to interpret the Traditions as they see fit.

In practice, of course, it will not be anywhere near so easy as that.

The year is 1526. Henry VIII is King of England, and still married to Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow. In Germany, Martin Luther has broken with the Catholic Church, and his 'heresy' is beginning to spread through central Europe. Spain dominates the seas, the New World, and, since the selection of Carlos V as Holy Roman Emperor (beating out Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France), has become one of the most powerful – and ambitious – kingdoms of Europe. In particular, since the resounding defeat of the French at Pavia just a year before, Spain now controls most of Italy, including the city of Milan.

In Milan, representatives of Lasombra elders and princes, anarch leaders and rabblerousers, Tzimisce voivodes, and the disenfranchised or vengeful members of a number of clans from all over Europe and the East, gather under the safe-conduct of Marius dell' Aquila, a safe-conduct enforced by his Tzimisce koldun warlord, Jovan Ruthven. Their ideas and agendas will form the underlying structure of an alliance that is fated to succeed far beyond its founders' initial conceptions...but not at all in the way that they expect. These nights will also see the forging of the Code of Milan, the foundation document of its authors' bold endeavor – a treaty that will be put to its most bitter test less than a decade after it is signed, and fail miserably. Yet from that failure, out of the hollow ashes of disappointment and defeat – and the dreams that cannot be destroyed nearly so easily as a single Lasombra Prince – shall rise a shadowy nemesis that will prove a thorn in the Camarilla's side (and sometimes a stake in its heart) for the next five hundred years...