In Vampire: The Masquerade, the clans are the major vampire lineages that comprise vampiric society. Like all bloodlines, each clan has greater familiarity with a set of three Disciplines, a weakness largely unique to its members, and various stereotypes attributed to it as a result of a tendency to Embrace individuals with certain characteristics. The clans are generally differentiated and set above bloodlines by their greater number and influence throughout the world, identification with an Antediluvianprogenitor, a history that reputedly extends back to the Second City, and clan weaknesses that were said to be handed down by Caine himself. In the Final Nights, the thirteen recognized clans are:

• Clan Assamite

• Clan Brujah

• Clan Followers of Set

• Clan Gangrel

• Clan Giovanni

• Clan Lasombra

• Clan Malkavian

• Clan Nosferatu

• Clan Ravnos

• Clan Toreador

• Clan Tremere

• Clan Tzimisce

• Clan Ventrue

There is some ambiguity in the standards that determine clanhood. Two of the above lineages, the Giovanni and Tremere, are actually recent replacements, having begun as bloodlines of established clans and risen to clan status within the last millennia after mostly wiping out Clan Cappadocian and Clan Salubri, respectively. Even though members of these fallen clans may yet survive, with their numbers so small and their Antediluvians destroyed they have been relegated to bloodline status, particularly as knowledge of their existence is gradually forgotten. On the other hand, several clans have held onto their positions despite the fact that their Antediluvians are believed to be dead. Likewise, the Ravnos are nearly extinct following the destruction of their progenitor during the Week of Nightmares, but they are still considered a clan (though some speculate that another bloodline will rise to take their place).