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**Jeevesosiris** · 08-08-2019, 11:49 AM

The enemies of my enemy are my friends. Preusmably this Prince stepped on a lot of toes to get where they are and they are bound to have enemies. Enemies that people would not suspect you might approach. The Nosferatu? Local anarchs? People that they couldn't dominate because of generation? Find who hates the Prince and it may well open up a lot of options for you.

**pang4** · 08-08-2019, 04:01 PM

You seem to be in a bit of a bind. Your problems appear twofold:

The Prince is out to keep you as a trophy Tremere. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as you can make incredible bank as a Prince's pet if you play your cards right. However, it is problematic, the way it is handled.

The other problem is your Chantrys leader (Regent? Do they have the rank of regent?) If they have it out for you, you're in deep dookers.

First, here are some things you should absolutely NOT do, in my mind:
-Kill, or attempt to kill, the Prince. If Praxis has the power to wipe your brain clean, you can be certain they will have the power to probe that brain as well. It doesn't help that you are the Prince's new punching bag...
-Go rogue, by joining up with Anarchs or independents or stuff like that. Your Clan 100% has a cache of your blood, and they will find you and kill you. The Tremere tolerate no dissent, ever since the mess with Goratrix.
-Act out of the ordinary, until your plan is ready to spring. If you play along with the scheme, your situation will remain static, rather than get worse. You can work with a stable situation, if they think they've won.

Let's take inventory:
-You have an Ally in the Nosferatu. This is, in my mind, your biggest asset. Friends in the Sewers are priceless.
-You have a cult/herd. Managing it can give you a lot of wiggle room, for clandestine communications or rituals. You know the Cult Leader is a spy, so you can use this to feed false information.
-You are in charge of Chantry security. This is not nothing. This means you have a place in the Tremere Bureaucracy, and standing in a tribunal.
-You have a butt-tonne of Thauamturgy. Mercury and Conjuration aren't great for political plays, and Spirit Manipulation is dicey because your Regent also possesses the power. This is both a blessing and a curse, as we might go over later.

So let's formulate a plan to take down your Regent, and deal a serious blow to the Prince.

Step one is recon. You need information, specifically, two pieces. You need to know who, and how many, besides you, have been mindwiped and reset. Right now, they are scattered, and don't know anything. You are the key to their discontent.
You also need a solid connection that your Regent is being manipulated by the prince. There are two options, both amazing for you. Either it's Dominate, Blood Bond or other supernatural manipulation, or it is your Regent willingly fucking over his own Clanmates.

How do we acquire this info? You have Nosferatu aid on the first task, and presumably they know the dirt of this town. They also don't seem too fond of the Prince, so there's that.
The other connection is where your Spirit finagling may come into play, unless your Nos buddies can get you info on the Regents and Prince's relationship. You can either find a spirit specialising in relationships and domination to learn more, or you could wrangle one of your Regents spirit slaves. Promise them freedom once yor regent is defeated, and they should turn to your side. No spirit likes enslavement, and your Regent seems like the kind of dick who would keep slaves.

Step two, BUREAUCRACY! The Tremere secret weapon. Use your position as Security Chief to contact your Regents superiors. The local Lord, or a higher ranked Regent. Explain your predicament to them. Here are a few lines from the Oath you can invoke to explain why your Regent is a security risk:

"No secrets are to be kept, or given, regarding the arts of magic, nor shall I keep secret the doings of others which might bring harm to the House and Clan." Your Regent is keeping the doings of the Prince secret from you, the Security Chief.

"I have the right to appeal a decision to a higher tribunal, if they should agree to hear my case." You are not betraying your Chantry my going over their heads. In fact, it is your duty to do so.

"I will not deprive nor attempt to deprive any member of House and Clan Tremere of his magical power. To do so would be to act against the strength of our House." They robbed you of your MIND, and any magical knowledge you had gained since entering the city. If you had consented to keep the knowledge safe, that's one thing. But this could be considered treachery.

By reaching out to your Lord with evidence, they should at the very least look into the situation. If your regent is mentally inpaired or dominated, they will get they ass removed and reschooled. If they are straight up allied with the Prince against their own Clan, they will face a Tribunal. Either way, your Clan should thank you.

As for the Prince, you have a great sword of Damocles to ensure they stay off your back. Tell them you know about their mindwipe-habits, and that the Anarch Baron to the south could use that to great effect, turning every victim and more besides away from the Prince and towards Anarchs. You have stored this information where they can't reach (with a spirit deadmanswitch), and propose a truce. You do nothing, they do nothing, you go your separate ways.

Is how I would handle the situation.

**Miami-Ken** · 08-08-2019, 05:06 PM

That is insightful and awesome -- Thank you!

**Thoth** · 08-08-2019, 09:48 PM

Am I missing something or does this scenario only work if many aspects of the V20 Tremere Hierarchy are completely ignored?

All you have to do is contact someone who is higher up in the Tremere chain of command, because the idea of a chantry leader/regent being controlled or just compromised by another clan is enough to have Vienna drop an investigator coterie on your door step if nothing else but to ensure that clan secrets are safe. If the Chantry leader doesn't comply.... well they will be immediately replaced at best or hunted as a rogue tremere at worst. The key thing to remember is that since Dominate is a clan discipline, the intricacies of how to use it are more common knowledge in the clan, which means no bureaucrat will hesitate to act if there is a chance of a key player being controlled.

In short let the folks at the higher pay grades sort it out, sure you might get screwed over in the process, but it sounds like enough concepts and rules were bent or broken to make this storyline happen that you were never getting out of this clean any ways.

Of course if it turns out that you uncovered a compromised Regent despite being dominated, and managed to remain loyal to the clan. Chances are you might just get a clan promotion out of the deal. Your first job might just be undermining the prince who messed with the Tremere in the first place.

**Illithid** · 08-09-2019, 02:40 AM

It sounds like the St is trying to manipulate things a little, and that is more important than what you can do in game... (It shouldn't be, and the ST may be playing purely from the NPCs perspectives; there's 1 ST I'd trust that was doing it purely in game, but check out your situation)
The reason I say this is more important is that if the ST is doing this for a reason, that may colour how successful all the attempts are to get out from under the Prince's manipulations.

Nosferatu Allies - very useful.
A spirit mentor- easiest way to check you aren't dominated again, and being able to pass information out of the Chantry. It's very hard to intercept a specific spirit.
Your Thaumaturgy paths are ... wow powerful in may ways, I'll get to them later.
Security Chief - Important, should give you sway and control for all other members.
Being a PC - This is important, I've found PCs normally will win against NPCs with the same stats because you get a chance to think about how everything you have interacts and an ST has to worry about too many NPCs to think that much in depth.

**What happened in game that made the Toreador Prince think you were too powerful, and why do you think that they Dominated you? Level 3 dominate and competence with the dice pool is a bit weird for a Toreador, not only is it out of clan; they tend to manipulate with emotion because that is in clan... It's much more likely that the Regent was the one to wipe your mind! If it was the Toreador, they are likely a pretty darn old elder, and that's a different game you're playing.

So, suggested actions
- dealing with the Nos to get your info and support.
- Get info out with spirits. Have a back up test for another mind wipe.
- See if you can get in touch with other Tremere with Dominate to unblock the memories, they need Dominate 3, an equal or better generation than the original (Which is easy with Path of Blood) and a bit of time. You may owe them something...
- I would put money on the fact that your Regent not-only has Conjuring, but has level 4 so that ant-conjuring is possible. So think smart.
*If you want to use C4, use Real C4 and have the dead man's switch conjured, so if it's banished, it stops sending the signal... Things like that. A summoned canister with real deadly material is safe unless the canister is un-summoned! Things like that.
- As Security chief, set up security protocols that you won't remember (and will trigger big issues) if you're dominated to forgetting again!
***Warning, trying to blow up the prince and teleporting away will probably screw you! Plan for the Prince to have mastered Celerity and maybe Auspex to see it coming and respond accordingly.

That's just what comes to mind quickly, without context

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[V20] My Tremere is in a Pickle

[V20] My Tremere is in a Pickle

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