The Anarch Center

The Leading Coterie of Chicago's Anarch Movement Failure makes them stronger. It's not that Chicago's Anarchs celebrate their past failures, but they've put them in perspective. The last century held out the city as a tempting fruit, seemingly ripe for the taking in the face of embattled, disorganized governments. Schemes from Gary, war with the Lupines, and even coming within a night or two of apparent Gehenna all produced openings for the Anarchs, but none of them led to a revolutionary government. On the other hand, overthrowing the Camarilla, with its genteel salons and sneering elders, never had much appeal for a significant part of the Anarch Movement, which wanted autonomy more than revolution. The nights of the Anarch Revolt don't inflame the hearts of New World Kindred. A restructured Camarilla made the prospect of revolution even less tenable, as that body became a thing to which Kindred bootlickers aspired, instead of a pretend government for all. Like roses from shit, every failure to incite revolution fertilized a core movement toward autonomy. Maldavis failed to seize the throne, but the elders didn't burn the rest of the local Movement. Juggler gathered a crew for his own coup attempt nearly 30 years ago, and his failure produced minimal casualties, though it conveniently encouraged Juggler to stick to Gary, where he proclaimed himself Baron, threw his weight around for a few years, and more recently, disappeared. He was the last serious firebrand. In the shadow of these failures, other Anarchs managed to produce something enduring: The Center. It's got hardscrabble territory in East Chicago (not even in Illinois!), but it belongs to the Anarchs — indisputably. The Anarch Center's built something that might endure, and even thrive as wayward Kindred discover the Camarilla isn't handing out turf after a bow and recitation of the Traditions. They don't know if they care about taking Chicago so much anymore, but they sure don't want you to fuck up their growing stability. The "Anarch Center" isn't an official name — not yet, anyway — but it's the preferred polite term. The coterie spent a few years trying the "Baronate" out, but this turned out to resemble an Italian word for a collection of crooked schemes. Therefore, Jackson's people use it constantly.