For those of you who are unfamiliar, the World of Darkness setting, and thus, the setting of the rp, the premise is fairly simple. Take the modern world and make the myths of our nightmares, the supernatural, real. Then turn the world several degrees 'darker.' The climate is worsening, the governments more corrupt, the multinational corporations more powerful. To the common man the world is much the same, but the horrors that lurk in the dark are true, and the world hangs ever more on the balance of humanities hubris.
The most common, or at least, the most prominent of these supernatural beings are the Kindred, as they call themselves, vampires, is what the teeming masses of humanity would recognize them as. Ever since Caine was cursed as the first vampire, the kindred have been alongside humanity, pulling the strings from behind closed doors, be they castle or boardrooms. The ability and character of a Kindred is defined by his clan, the bloodline from which he or she stems, these can all be found here;
whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Clan_(VTM)Info on the other races of the World of Darkness can be found through the same wiki.
The Kindred of the modern day are mostly divided into three groups, the Camarilla, the Sabbat and the Anarchs. The Camarilla is the oldest of these three and the most powerful. They are the ancient hidden society of the Kindred that set the rules on how Kindred should behave, both towards each other, and humanity. The Camarilla's main purpose, or, what they would have you believe, is the upholding of the 'Masquerade' the deception that keeps the bulk of humanity blind to the existence of the Kindred. While the Sabbat and Anarchs fundamentally disagree with the Camarilla's approach to this, all three factions currently enforce a similar set of rules. Kindred are an urban people, the countryside is ruled by there werewolves who are ancient foes of their kind, and so they are ruled city-by-city. A Camarilla city is ruled by a Prince and a council of 'Primogen' the Elders of the vampire clans within the city.
The Sabbat worship Caine as their unliving god of the night, and seek the open dominion of the Kindred over humanity, the Camarilla view them as insane zealots who read too much into the myths of the Kindred, while they view the Camarilla as merely another obstacle in the way of their rightful place of dominion. Thankfully, the Sabbat are the weaker of the two global powers, and for now are forced to maintain their own version of the masquerade, simply for their own survival, even in the cities and nations they control.
The Anarchs are the smallest of the major groups and are confined to specific parts of the globe where isolation, or the relatively recent industrial and technological age have allowed cities to remain free on the control of either global power. The most famous, and deliberate, example of this is the Anarch Free State of the American West Coast, which for most of the 20th Century has spanned from Washington to Southern California. The Anarchs have a wide variety of beliefs, but mainly are united in their protest against the crushingly hierarchical Camarilla and the frankly insane Sabbat. The Anarch movement grew out of the chaos of the World Wars, which largely distracted the Camarilla and the Sabbat from their open rebellion, and now that the world is stable once more, the Free State has gradually been chipped away. Anarch cities are ruled by 'Barons' and their Coteries, although usually in a much less formal sense than a Prince and Primogen.
In our setting, Los Angeles has been a part of the Anarch Free State, although many kindred loyal to a variety of causes make their home here, alongside other supernatural beings. Recently, the de-facto Baron of LA, an ancient, but perpetually young kindred known as the 'Kid' attempted to impose a more direct rule on LA, openly declaring himself Baron and at war with the Camarilla and pretty much anyone else he did not trust. The following civil war between the Kindred of LA was fierce, and most are still recovering. During that time, one of the Kid's childer (A Kindred whom he himself turned) rebelled against the Kid, slaying him, and draining him of power. While she has disappeared from the every day life of the city, members of her coterie are now prominent in LA society. LA is offically no longer part of the Anarch Free States, instead branding itself it's own Kindred Free State.