There are some obvious differences between the Dark Ages Kindred Society and Modern Nights. Here are a couple that are important to keep in mind.

There is no Camarilla, there is no Sabbat, there really aren't any Anarchs

These sects are still a couple centuries from being formed. Instead, Kindred Society tends to be divided into High Clans, Low Clans, and Outcasts. The High Clans reign over Kindred Society and are most likely to be nobility and princes. They are the main supporters of the feudal system. The High Clans are: Brujah, Cappadocian, Lasombra, Toreador, Tzimisce, and Ventrue. The Low Clans are despised by the High Clans either for their foreign ways or for the depths of their bloodlines' curses which make socializing almost impossible. Many of them, while acknowledging the Traditions of Caine, work outside of the feudal system. That does not mean that members of the Low Clans can not rise to position - they simply have a more difficult time doing so. The Low Clans are: Assamites, Setites, Gangrel, Malkavians, Nosfeatu, Ravnos, and Tremere. Outcasts are Kindred who, either by choice or by punishment, both live outside of the feudal system and refuse to acknowledge the Traditions.

Most of Kindred Society is governed by a Feudal system

Monarchs - At the top of the feudal system is a Monarch, who rules over a large area. How each Monarch decides to rule is completely up to them. Some work from the shadows, others make their presence well known among their Lords.

Lords/Ladies - Lords and Ladies are the next rung down the ladder, ruling over large areas of princes, barons, and knights. Most lords hold their own courts once or twice a year. The rest of the time is largely spent handling the day to day operations of their Domain.

Prince - "Prince" is a generic title for any vampire with domain significantly large and strategically valuable. In the Dark Ages, a Prince is simply anyone who can hold onto and defend a Praxis. Sometimes a Princedom is given by a Lord to a loyal vassal, but if that someone isn't strong enough to protect their appointment, they are libel to loose it.

Barons/Baronesses - These are the Cainites of action, usually the officers of princes and lords. They serve various positions in the court, striving to become powerful enough to warrant a principality of their own.

Knights - The lowest-ranked Cainites in the feudal system, but also some of the most important. They fill the armies of their Lords and fight on the battlefields, serve as spies and messengers. Some Knights swear their oath to an Order, but most swear fealty to Barons and Princes directly, in hopes of moving up the ladder. Some Knights are given small Domains or Estates in exchange for exceptional service.

The Traditions

The Traditions of Caine are the only real social compact that Kindred acknowledge. It defines the rights, and responsibilities of Princes, and many respect them simply because the alternative is chaos.

The First Tradition: Covenant
In this Tradition, Cainites recognize Caine as the lord of the night and affirm their lineage to him. Princes and Lords use this Tradition to legitimize their rule, citing Caine's covenant as proof of their right to lead.

The Second Tradition: Domain
Domains indicate influences and protection, plus they serve as the holders' feeding grounds. Those who hold Domain are bound to offer hospitality to those who enter and present themselves. A prince extends her influence by acquiring more domain, which is then parceled out to loyal vassals.

The Third Tradition: Progeny
As too many Kindred can overtax a domain's resources, it is accepted as the right of a Prince or Lord to limit the right to create progeny within their domain.

The Fourth Tradition: Accounting
This Tradition holds those who sire to educate and protect their childer. To do otherwise brings a penalty - the sire pays for her childe's indiscretions.

The Fifth Tradition: Destruction
Only a Prince can single out another Kindred for destruction. The Prince may confer this right upon his sheriff or warmaster as a gift, the better to enforce the prince's rule.

The Sixth Tradition: The Silence of the Blood
While all Elders acknowledge that a certain amount of secrecy is necessary to secure their actions from Kine, how this is enforced tends to vary. Some princes hold it sacrosanct, especially in large cities. In other places, it receives lip service. In general, Cainites allow manifestations that keep the Kine cowed, but ban those that might lead to organized resistance.

The Court

Princes rely on Barons and Baronesses to help administer their lands. Different Princes rule in different ways, but in general, the following positions are common:

Sheriff: The sheriff handles matters of security and jurisdiction, keeping the neonates from raising too much hell and keeping unwanted visitors out.

War Master: The general of the prince or Lord's army, and only to a prince (or a lord) who can muster enough forces to be called an army. If the sheriff is concerned with city security, the War Master is concerned with the Domain as a whole.

Seneschal: The seneschal is the prince's right hand, the one occupied with the night-to-night business of governance. It is he who chooses which complaints will go before the prince.

Keeper: The keeper is the prince's spiritual advisor and counselor. Some still use the older Malkavian and Nosferatu oracles, but most call upon the ashen priests, the teachers and leaders on one of the roads of enlightenment.

Chamberlain: The chamberlain is the social heart of the prince's courts, organizing the feasts and tourneys and welcoming visiting dignitaries. She is also a skilled gossip and rumormonger, able to take the pulse of the subjects and discover detractors.

Scourge: The scourge acts as the prince's private executioner, patrolling the domain for unwanted visitors and either bringing them to the Prince or destroying them outright. The post is not one to encourage friendly relationships, and many Cainites fear and distrust the scourge.

Primogen

The term Primogen means something a little different then it does in modren nights. It is a term simply used to acknowledge a Elder with status and personal domain who does not hold any other position. Not every Clan in an area has a Primogen, and the idea of a Primogen Council ruling along side a Prince is still a long ways off. While Primogen are respected, and a Prince or Lord may ask for their council, they have no more say then anyone else in what decisions are made.

While players will not be able to enter the game as Primogen, it is a position that they can aspire towards. It requires being in service to a Lord or Prince, being awarded with a private domain, being able to defend that domain, and being reconized as worthy in the eyes of Society (having a status of, or greater then, four).

Elysium

The idea of Elysium was started, and died, with the Roman Empire. While a few old Roman Kindred might keep the customs of Elysium, most Kindred don't even know what those customs are. For the most part, violence at a civil gathering of Kindred is frowned on, but in these dark times there are no places where Kindred meet that are secure enough to ensure the safety of an Elysium. And even if they could, most Princes perfer not to have to abide by those old ways. Indeed, Challenges and Trials by Combat are often considered entertainment for the guests at Kindred Courts, and jousting matches are popular among Kindred knights.

The Inquisition

It's been brought to our attention that there might be a need for us to clarify a bit the Catholic Church, the inquisition and how it might effect you, the blood sucking evil of the night that you are.

The Inquisition plays a key roll in the story Modern Nights games, and for good reason.  Not only do they continue to seek out and destroy Vampires, but they accomplished something that had never before even been imagined in the history of Kindred Society: a well organized group of mortals with stakes and flames managed to destroy a significant number of Kindred.  For once, Kindred were not the hunters but the hunted, and the tenuous feudal system under which they had organized their Society and ruled each other and the Kine began to crumble. But, lucky you, this hasn't happened yet.  

While you'd have to be a pretty arrogant and delusional Kindred to really believe that you are truly immortal and that nothing can harm you (or a certain Ventrue Elder who shall remain nameless), the one thing you haven't had to fear is mortals.  There is no Masquerade, and while most Vampires do not go into a tavern with their fangs exposed, no one really tries that hard to conceal what they are, either.  And besides, if you are not on the path of Humanity or Haven, it's really hard to pass as Kine anyway.  Mortals around you sense that you are different, but their lives are so miserable anyway, they don't ask questions or want to know.  Or, they are more then willing to chalk it up into that category of "folklore" or "superstition" that is still very prevalent, regardless of what the Church may say.  Of course vampires, demons, sprits, spirits, banshees, sirens and all of that exist.  The trick for most mortals is simply not get in their way.

That does not mean, however, that the Church takes such a live and let live attitude.  For a long time the Catholic Church (that is to say, the Church of Rome) had a "if you preach to them, they will convert" take on the unorthodox.   And this pretty much worked well for them.  However, since the turn of the millennium the Catholic Church has grown in strength and power.  It no longer has to simply hope that those in their midst will eventually come around to their views on the orthodox.   The Catholic Church was not all that concerned when Crusaders sacked Constantinople, and they have actively supported the Crusade against the Cathers.  It has become all too evident that Rome has decided that violence against other Christians is just fine as long as those Christians are heretics and not Catholic.

More often then not, Kindred are starting to find themselves in the midst of all of this. More and more, local bishops and church officials have followed Rome 's example and sought out heretics and other unsavory characters in their own communities and put them into dungeons or strait to the flame.  These local inquisitors operate on their own, without any real organization or central authority.  In the current climate, while these are more then enough to cause real concern in the Kindred Societies where they occur, they are considered to be isolated incidents.