Russia
The Kindred had a relatively small presence in Russia until the time of Peter the Great. Previously, Russia had been primarily used as a battleground between Tzimisce and Lupines and as a refuge for wandering Gangrel, but during Peter's reign, many Kindred saw a golden land ripe with kine and resources. The Toreador in particular saw a chance to develop the Russian writers and musicians. The Kindred presence in Russia grew steadily, and the Lupines could do little about it. In 1917, the Brujah proved to be on top of the situation. Latching themselves onto Lenin and his followers, they aided the Communist Revolution in the midst of World War I, ousting the Ventrue and Toreador princes that had previously dominated the cities. While the coup succeeded, and the last czar and his family were eventually murdered, the Brujah plan backfired. Disagreement over the manner of government to be formed sent Russia into civil war for a time. The Brujah factions quarreled, and the people of the Soviet Union suffered.
And yet, darker and much older powers had dwelled in Russia long before the Rus themselves had ventured into the land. As these lands were once the territory of the Iron Hag Baba Yaga, Nosferatu agents of powerful generation have inhabited these lands and when the Hag awakened in 1991, she immediately began to amass forces to return Russia into the rural land she grew up in. She either outright killed and devoured native vampires or forced them into servitude, sometimes with brutal force, sometimes via proxies, sometimes via subtle means like Disciplines. Many Kindred felt that something old had awakened in the wastes of Russia, but few could pinpoint it down.
In the Final Nights, Baba Yaga has met her end by the fangs of the Nictuku, the bogeymen of Nosferatu legend. Without her presence, Camarilla and Sabbat vie for influence over Russia, both eager to use the resources of people for their own purposes. Tzimisce territories and their Revenant line of the Oprichniki hold to ancient estates, while Ventrue, Toreador and Brujah squabble among themselves for control over the cities. Gangrel and Ravnos wander the forests, and many Nosferatu that descend from the Hag have their warrens beneath the cities.
