Palacio de Lecumberri

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Starvation, torture, psychological domination, physical abuse, and even death awaited those who found themselves condemned to Mexico City’s “Black Palace,” a prison that incarcerated both criminals and the political enemies of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Constructed as a panopticon, the prison had no place for prisoners to hide, as the prison director (and sometimes his Cainite “guests”) could see every movement of every inmate from the overview atop the building.

Needless to say, this notorious prison drew the attention of many of Mexico City’s Sabbat, who used the institution both as a political tool of influence and as a stable for a Herd that they could make disappear at any time. No few Camarilla spies (and presumably those troublesome members of other sects who found themselves in hostile territory) met their end in the Black Palace as well. The weapon of a terrifying and bloody period of sect history (even by Sabbat stan- dards), the penitentiary represented a death sentence for anyone placed into its custody.

In 1980, the decommissioned prison became the headquarters of the Mexican National Archives. That hasn’t changed its status as a valuable tool of influential Sabbat Elders, however, whose minions have infiltrated the archives at every level. The Elders who hold power over the national archives make no secret of their ability to summon forth and even create information with a wave of their hand. Some trade favors for access to the archive, and openly do so across sect boundaries, so long as the recipient offers a Boon of appropriate value. Of course, many young Sabbat see this as a symbol of Elder corruption... but they can be made to disappear, too.