VtM 5E: Blood and Oil

Bakersfield, California, is many things. Dusty. Grimy. Depressing. Hopeless. A fetid swamp turned into a barren desert full of oil rigs and almond orchards, with deadly fungus waiting just under the topsoil to infect your lungs. It was also, for several decades, a festering stronghold of the Sabbat. The Sword of Caine was too thoroughly entrenched for the Anarch Free State to spend the resources removing, and besides... it was just Bakersfield.

That changed twelve years ago, after the Conclave of Prague officially expelled the Anarchs from the Camarilla. With the Second Inquisition pressing in and regional leaders feeling a need to clean up lingering messes before the storm hit, a coordinated assault finally drove the Sabbat from Bakersfield, and a new, fledgling barony was established.

With the Second Inquisition seeming increasingly content to rest on its laurels (and the American government lately focused more on brutalizing and punishing its mortal denizens), the Barony of Bakersfield is finally beginning to wake up and discover what it's going to be. But it faces its share of problems: garou in the mountains near Lake Isabella, an SI outpost just past Tehachapi in California City (integrated with the ICE concentration camp there), thinblood alchemists seizing power and influence in the downtrodden parts of the city, pressure from ambitious Camarilla who see the city as a stepping stone to one day reclaiming the West Coast, Kuie-jin with plans of their own, and the lingering legacy of Sabbat rule. There's a lot to do, and only so many nights to do it in.

So, what brings you to Bakersfield? Have you come to help the Movement? Are you seeking to lie low in a place no one wants to look? Were you unfortunate enough to live here as a mortal? What draws you here, to a land that offers little beyond blood and oil?

GM's Note: If you take any issue with the above descriptions of what's happening in the United States today, please feel free to voice your opinion so everyone else can know to avoid ever interacting with you.