The Black Hand is well known as the policing arm of the Sabbat. The ones who eliminate Camarilla partisans and subversives within the Sabbat. It is composed of the elite of the Sabbat, but it is also a false front, unknowingly, for the True Black Hand.
Only perhaps 60 of the Black Hand are of the True Hand, and 40 of the Camarilla are in the True Hand's less than 200 members. Where do the others come from? A very good question.
The most elite organization perhaps of the Kindred, and the most feared certainly, is the True Black Hand, the Tal'mahe'Ra. It is also the most secret, and the one with the greatest sense of purpose.
It is safe to say that if you are not a member of the True Hand, you will never know their secrets, and if you should be so unlucky as to find out, run. The True Hand are the guardians of humanity and have a higher code of ethics than many in the Sabbat or Camarilla, but they have a mission to accomplish.
Do not make the mistake of thinking them outsiders, strangers. Your Prince, Primogen, or Justicar, may be one of the True Hand.
A long time ago in the lands of the Middle East was a cult of scholars who sought the secrets of death. This cult, known as Tal'mahe'Ra would later develop into the Euthanatos, but for now they dealt in wraiths, fear, and death. The cult sought out Kindred that they might learn more. The cult provided the Kindred willing to help with victims, havens and ghouls. Eventually they let a few of these Kindred into the cult but the Kindred were unable to learn their magics. Those mages who were Embraced lost the ability also to practice their magic.
Few in number at first, no more than twenty, the cult grew as more Kindred were admitted. Around 500 BC the Kindred took control of the cult and spread to Europe.
The European Tal'mahe'Ra developed ties with the Verbena while the Eastern Tal'mahe'Ra retained their links to the Euthanatos. Again the Kindred could learn only the theory, and again their numbers grew.
In 438 A.D. the Tal'mahe'Ra went to war with the Assamites, continuing until 516 A.D. when an assamite spy learned that the Setites had tricked them into the war. Alliance twixt the two was formed in 517 A.D. against the Followers.
In AD 450 the War of the Betrayers occurred, splitting East and West sects. The war occurred almost entirely within the Shadowlands. A truce was called and the two halves separated.
During the Anarch Revolt however, the western Tal'mahe'Ra joined the young Kindred, hoping that these would succeed in destroying the powerful Kindred Ancients where the Inquisition had failed. Many of their Verbena allies had been destroyed, sacrificed to preserve themselves and the Verbena wanted no more of it.
The Camarilla came into being, and the Sabbat to oppose it. Tal'mahe'Ra in both camps attained positions of power.
In the 1600s the eastern Tal'mahe'Ra, long under attack by Assamites and Settites, came under attack by Wraithlords of the Dark Umbra. By the 1700s the eastern Tal'mahe'Ra needed the western Tal'mahe'Ra, and the two regained the city of Enoch from the WraithLords. The Treaty of Enoch was signed, allowing the wisest of both to elect a Del'Roh, a supreme leader for the Tal'mahe'Ra. They rebuilt Enoch together and today are again as one.