Estructura Urbana y tenencia del suelo

As you can see, I still put these nations together under one heading, while focusing on Mother Russia herself. Or maybe using the name in the old sense, geographically speaking. The other, smaller states gained their independence just recently and have

G A yet to develop their own national personality in the mortal world. To us, however, it makes all the more sense to not split them up at this point since all these nations are pretty much the same from our point of view. Which is, of course, going to change rapidly during the next few decades.

I am sure you heard all the stories about Russia:

the quarrels, the Brujah empire after 1917, quarrels again, the waking of the Baba Yaga, a being from the beginning of our time. A mad monster hunting the never-ending woods and snow-covered plains of this huge country for Kindred blood. Boo!

Well, one thing is for sure: Russia is indeed huge.

Large parts are uncivilized, empty land. Tonight, its economy is a virtual ruin, broken by several governments, a rampant mafiya and a corrupt upper class. The inflation rate climbed high into the 80th percentile during the last couple of years, and the national debts are mounting. Many the more devel-oped areas (such as the ones listed in the headline) separated from Mother Russia, or at least tried to do that, becoming so-called autonomous republics like Adygeja or Chechnya. Still, though, the Russian bear is struggling to get back on its feet, the new president Vladimir Putin will have to invest much time and effort to rebuild the state.

Again, the situation of mortal Russia mirrors Kindred Russia. Rumor has it that the old witch is no more. I can tell this only as a rumor, since I haven’t been to Russia during the last few decades, but it might as well be true as not. Personally, I think it’s quite plausible. Supposedly, the whole Brujah empire, as well as the Civil War afterward, was a set-up of the old hag to hide her rising from torpor and her first killings. When she had fully rebuilt her strength, she hunted down the isolated small Kindred populations while the land festered in separation, inner quarrel-ling, corruption and plain chaos.

Now she is gone, for whatever reason.

As far as I know, Russia is on its own, Kindred-wise. However, the situation for us as a part of the general Kindred population is a lot less interesting as in, say, the ex-GDR. The western parts of what I am calling Russia here feature several larger cit-ies — Kiev, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod, to mention some of them — but the biggest part of it is wild land. I will not speculate here on what beasts may hunt these woods. I will leave that up to people more interested.

In the cities, unlife is pretty easy at this point. The mortals are poor and desperate. People do desperate things all the time, so a few more missing will not stand out. The police have other duties to fulfill than going to look for them.

On the other hand, to get a firm grip on the important parts of the country, you need an awful lot of money and preferably firsthand experiences in economics and state politics. And the will to do it.

If you do have these things, go ahead and secure a big bite of the whole domain. Build a safe haven for critical minds.

However, enough bigwigs from within the Camarilla will surely try to do the same — or are already at it. Plus, the dangers of some ancient Kin-dred sleeping somewhere under the earth or waiting hidden for his chance undoubtedly exist. Once the dust has set and everybody is sure that there are no more near-Antediluvians hunting Russia, everybody who is fed up with something in his present domain will undertake the journey eastward and try to take part in the big rebuilding, hoping to build his little utopia out there. Remember the great tracks into the American Frontier? Then, it was westward. During the next couple of decades — maybe centuries — it will be eastward.

Well, most of you are probably too young to have experienced the colonialization of your homeland. If you are of pioneer-spirit — who knows? Maybe Russia is the next best thing for you. A great wide open. This is nothing for weekend-anarchs and people wanting to shake their fists at an establishment, however. If you have the will and the means to build something of your own from the ashes, and if you feel up to the task of doing this against other interests, take the next plane.

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Because of their similarities, I put these North-ern nations under one headline. They share some geographic specialties. Because of their unique position on the globe, you get the strange phenom-enon of the midnight sun, which causes our kind to spend about half of the year in torpor. You also find beautiful nature resorts, practically undisturbed by Kindred and kine.

Naturally, these countries are traditional Gangrel territory. As for the cities, the Kindred govern-ment shares the kine’s peculiarities: The princes are rather tolerant to the inhabitants’ desires and needs. Before you pack your bags, though, let me correct the impression you might have now. You are not inhabitants of these nations. You are strangers that arrive there in the night, and, from their point of view, you are just another band of troublemakers spoiling to disturb the peace they worked for.

All these countries are haven to Kindred whom I would definitely call anarchs, judging their mindset.

In fact, there was a virtual surge of known anarchs up

c^hApter f^our: A W^orld r^ipefor r^evolution 113

to the north a couple of years ago. The problem soon became obvious: The supply of vessels is rather scarce up there. In addition to the quiet, there were hostile, savage beasts hunting the land beyond the borders of the cities.

Soon, many the wannabe getaways realized that they preferred the constant battle in the crowded cities further south over the relative liberty up here, which brought the task of actually structuring unlife after ones’ own ideas instead of just shaking their fists against an abusive system.

Those who remained, though, went to work sincerely and thoroughly. Inside these states, the Kindred residents of these domains enjoy liberties unthinkable almost everywhere else. They criticize the princes’ decisions openly, they freely promote flat hierarchies, they discuss hotly with their elders.

But if the outside world tries to influence them or force something on them, they stand united under the leadership of their princes.

As a guest, you face some of the most xeno-phobic scrutiny in all Europe. Not because of some mysterious power, but because all inhabitants of a city work together. Of course, this strange unity doesn’t root in the fact that all these Kindred grew enlightened beyond the average bloodsucker mindset. No way. This is a lesson about the Kin-dred nature. And about the powers of threats from the outside. The huge areas of uncivilized land together with the midnight sun effect and its mystical power make Scandinavia a perfect resort for the Lupines. Even a Gangrel will find it difficult to run freely there.

Like Russia, this is no place for a holiday. Pre-pare your visit thoroughly and keep it short. On the other hand, if you have ties to a local Kindred, seize the opportunity to look at these places for their unique balance of anarch theory with traditional princedom.

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The Danes are not very font of migrants; the quota of foreigners living in Denmark is at about five percent. Geographically, the biggest part of Denmark, Jylland, is attached to northern Ger-many. The rest is a number of bigger and smaller islands, some of which are important nature resorts.

Traditionally, the Kindred population recruits itself from the ranks of the Gangrel, though Copenhagen sports a full-fledged domain with Kindred from cosmopolitan clans. An ancient group of Gangrel, the Valkyries, travels all over Scandinavia, and has for centuries. They were last seen on the Faroer Islands, a group of isles in

the Northern Atlantic, loosely attached to Den-mark on a political level, when the nature resort was severely threatened by the oil from a sunken transport ship.

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If you compare the number of citizens to the size of the land, you can see why this is supposedly the main haven of the Valkyries. Thus, there are not many other Kindred up there, and those who are long for quiet and loneliness, which they will protect fiercely. Just a couple of decades before, a relatively large migration of Kindred occurred there, but most of them left after the peace became as tense as it was “back home” (wherever that was) very quickly. Also, the people returning spoke of a strange Malkavian hunting the nights up there, try-ing to block out the sun, but I guess this is nonsense, since I never heard of her again. On the other hand, if this being is indeed of Malkav’s blood, this may not be a valid indication.

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Iceland is probably the most unsuitable place for our kind to dwell. It has no forests of note, the vegetation consists mainly of small, undemanding plants, the landscape is pure rock. Apart from the capitol, which houses about half of the population, Iceland has no other sizeable settlement. Nearly all the goods for everyday mortal life have to be imported since Iceland itself produces only fish, related products and aluminum. Therefore, it is very expensive to travel there.

But if you look for amazing, almost bizarre landscapes — geysers, volcanoes, etc. — Iceland is a perfect goal. However, should you be up to chang-ing the world, this is the wrong address. Reykjavik is the domain of Smilla Grimsson, a fairly old Eskimo-Swedish Toreador deeply in love with the land. Beside her, Iceland has only two other known Kindred inhabitants — her childe Ragnar Asgrimsson and a Brujah of unknown identity. This triumvirate allows nothing but the briefest visits by strangers, and it has the means to secure obedience. However, the Valkyries have free access to Iceland, for reasons best not speculated upon.

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Since Sweden has the largest mortal population of Scandinavia, naturally, the Kindred population is greater as well. With Stockholm, Skane and Västra Götalands, it also features three urban centers with more than a million inhabitants each, which pro-vide suitable dwelling conditions for our kind. You may have heard about several attacks during the

G A last couple of years blamed on neo-Nazi organiza-tions. According to my sources, the local Kindred defeated an infiltration attempt by a Sabbat pack supposedly recruited solely from Clan Lasombra.

The Swedish Kindred are probably the ones closest to the freedom as most young anarchs envision it.

They have a definite figurehead — Gustav Sörensson, a Brujah whose Embrace dates back to the time of Charlemagne — but he rarely decides a large-scale matter without conferring at length with the other inhabitants. Again, note that these liberties apply only to locals.