Houses of Blood
The Houses of Blood are the primary international body of the combined Vampire nation. While they do not represent all Vampires, they are the only governing body associated with such. In practice though they are not a government as much as a collection of organized crime families with a shared supernatural ancestry. Each styles itself as the descendents of a legendary vampiric ancestor, the most famous of which is of course Vlad III of Wallachia the supposed ancestor of House Dracul. The Houses are spread across Eurasia, reaching from Romania in the west deep into Russia and down into Oceania. Indeed, the vast majority of the largest Houses reside across the former Soviet Union where their corruption and influence rushed to fill the vacuum left by the crumbling USSR.
The collected might of the Houses is such that they could likely present at least of potential threat to most mortal nations, if not openly devastate them, but fortunately for the human world the Houses endlessly squabble and vie for position. Even individually the Houses which have gained international reach are dangerous. House Dracul maintains a standing force of mercenaries known as the Moroii which is equipped to match any military force on the planet and is largerly comprised of hybrid Mycop soldiers granting them a physical edge over any equivalent organization. Other houses similarly trade in power, violence, arms, and human trafficking. All have connections among the corrupt officials of every major mortal nation and across international business empires alike.
Beyond these world-spanning organizations there are smaller Houses throughout their home continents. Most are satellites to the larger houses, owning a semblance of fealty in exchange for protection and opportunity. These smaller houses are many, but most number well less than 200 members, including Mycop and other servitors.
There is one other factor which limits the ability of the Houses to dominate the global geopolitical landscape, that being the total sustainable vampiric population. Ultimately, Vampires are apex predators which exclusively subsist off mortal human prey. As such, while the human population is plentiful, no one area can possibly support too large of a vampiric population. This forces them to spread their forces and maintain numbers far lower than they potentially could if they converted mortals proactively. This is also the primary reason why the Houses of Blood fully support the Council's insistence on maintaining the general mortal ignorance of the supernatural world. While they have revealed their true nature to select mortal within their influence, the overall population gaining knowledge of vampiric existence, much less the Houses themselves, would be devastating to the Vampires who would certainly be hunted to near extinction within a few short years.
The Houses of Blood do enjoy a strong position within the Council though and make sure to advance their agendas at every possible opportunity. They are closely allied with the wizards of the Order of Myrddin who between them view themselves as the true masters of the global geopolitical world. They balance each other's interests nicely and each how power enough to simultaneous proove an invaluable ally and an insurmountable foe. Rather than fall into the Cold War machinations of the mortal nations, these two have developed a symbiotic relationship that ensures no other nation could stand to oppose them.
Structure
The Houses all follow a roughly familial structure, with a progonarch serving as the house leader. Usually this is the eldest of the house, though not always due to various internal machinations, and is a position held without respect for gender or ethnicity. Beneath them are usually those born or converted by the progonarch and extending outward in a vague family tree from there. Individuals can shift position within the family, but this is usually treated akin to an adoption, with the appointed individual referring to their new master as a parent. Within ranks, all are referred to as siblings or cousins depending on relative rank. Those involved in the house politics which are not vampires, be they particularly effective Mycop or outsiders, are always referred to as things or animals. This language may seem inflammatory, but is generally recognized by those who interact regularly with the Houses as little more than formality and most are judged by their individual merits.
Culture
The Houses share many traits which have been broken down here, but each is also distinctly influenced by the region in which they emerged. Many exhibit strong influences of Russian monarchist ancestries, though the Houses closer to eastern Europe reflect their own unique heritages, as do those of southeastern Asia and Oceania. All have a throughline of Hellenistic culture binding them back to the cult of Thanatos to which they still owe their worship as part of the bargain that originally created their lines, though distance has certainly faded that influence among many. Those Houses which have migrated their operations to North America are far more progressive, by vampiric standards, and capitalistic than their Eurasian counterparts.
History
The Houses fared far better at the end of the second world war than most other supernatural communities with a European footprint, but ultimately they still saw a massive shift of power into the Americas during this time. Now their operations are truly globalized, but there are many in the ancestral seats of their power who still view the Americans as little more than upstart children.
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