Global Covenants

[Joeblbum]

I love the mechanics and freedom Requiem allows Storytellers, as well as the focus on personal horror that it enables, but I also love the more global conspiracy feeling of Masquerade as I like the idea of players being sucked into a world far bigger and darker than they knew, and I would like to add that into my Requiem games if possible. I love the idea of conclaves taking place and organised control of the masquerade and such. I read Danse Macabre and loved it, but whilst I felt the global conspiricies were very cool, they weren't quite right for me as they seemed a little bit too gonzo for my liking. Does anyone have any advice they can give?

So far I'm thinking of reintroducing the Camarilla, for the most part maintaining its origins in Masquerade but with a Requiem spin, and having it as a much more decentralised organisation than in Masq. So instead of every Camarilla city having a sherrif, harpy's, etc. they're more interested in every Camarilla city maintaining the traditions however works, but with the additions of domain, hospitality and destruction, which would explain why the Carthians aren't fans of theirs with all the power resting with the princes and elders by law. They would have the classic "Inner Circle" with a justicar per clan and archons underneath them, but they would be more like the last line of defense for the masquerade and preserving the effectiveness of the Camarilla in each city they rule than they would be fighters against enemies of the organisation. I would have the Camarilla have a big presence in Europe and through other areas of the world, whilst they're finding it much more difficult to get a good grip in other regions of the world like the Americas, thus keeping many different styles of vampire governments in the world.

This would give the Carthian movement a much more organised threat to face, making their union in their dislike of the Camarilla in spite of their disparate politics make more sense. It also opens up other opportunities for more movements like that which may dislike the Carthians and the Camarilla, which is interesting to me.

I like the idea of giving the Ordo a bigger place by having them become known to the Camarilla with the publishing of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and them sharing an uneasy alliance of interests.

I think the Lancea et Sanctum could be interesting, as I can see them going either way with the Camarilla, as whilst it is ultimately a secular organisation, it is mostly focused on maintaining the traditions that the LS hold dear in their religion. Ultimately I see them uniting a little bit at least though because of that, and the Circle of the Crone forming in opposition to LS encroachment in Europe as usual.

That leaves the Invictus, who I am struggling most with, so if anyone has any ideas for them (or any ideas for any other changes, I won't be offended its quite early steps at the moment XD) let me know. So far I've come up with the idea of having the Invictus be the "inner circle" of the Camarilla in cities and the like, but that could give them TOO much power, I'm not sure.

These are just some ideas I've had recently and I want to expand upon them, but I'm not sure I'm creative enough to do it by myself XD Any feedback you can give or ideas you can offer would be appreciated.

[monteparnas]

I think you could do the opposite of your idea with the Invictus. Instead of making the Camarilla a known presence everywhere, make it an actual conspiracy inside the lesser conspiracies of the Covenants. The Camarilla may be a secret organization that infiltrates cities and Covenants in name of their Inner Circle and manipulate the local vampiric society to keep the Traditions. They would naturally exist in greater numbers within the Invictus, but could find homes even among the Carthians and the Circle.

Their local influence is inconspicuous, seemingly too small for the sect to be detected, but that is actually because their game happens in a global scale, examining the state of the Traditions and their own entrenchment everywhere. Their hidden sanctums are places of unearthly luxury where the lowest ghoul is rich and influential as a Prince, and their local watchers in each city aren't meant to compromise their positions for big interventions, instead calling for the Justicars or their hidden armies.

You can either have an unequal power struggle where scattered points of resistance fight against this Camarilla, mostly the Carthians but, again, not tied to a single Covenant, or you can have a "Sabbat" opposition, maybe an organization of Strix, or something else.

My point is that, if you want to make a "Camarilla" with the same feeling of Masquerade, do it as something different from a Covenant, or the premises of the game may conflict.

[Ur-Than]

Wasn't there a book which presented global covenants for 1ed Requiem ? I'm pretty sure I remember reading about one...

Also I think that Requiem is less geared toward global machinations because the Covenants are either extremely loose associations of Kindred (Circle and Carthians), extremely small and little interested in global power (Ordo) or too set in dominating the local life (Lancea and Invictus) to really extend globally in an unified way.

Regarding your proposition, I'd have the Invictus openly oppose the Camarilla, because in setting, it has already failed during the Roman era and it resurgence, while it was pretended to be a goal of the Invictus, never worked. So have the Invictus oppose the Cam on the basis that those idiots gathering everywhere are actually a threat to Masquarade because if some place is revealed, everything will go down in flame.

Perhaps have them become ally of circumstance with the Circle : those damned pagans may be everything they usually despise, but at least they understand the need for a non-unified Kindred society to preserve it... and their shock troops are more than willing to meet Final Death against the Cam, why would the Invictus not help them achieve it?

Basically have the Invictus drap itself in the "We are the one maintaining Masquarade, damn it!".

[Michael]

Wasn't there a book which presented global covenants for 1ed Requiem ? I'm pretty sure I remember reading about one...

The Danse Macabre has altered versions of the big 5 covenants as world-wide conspiracies.

[Spencer from The Hills]

Invictus and the (VtM) Camarilla together seem redundant to me. As I see it Invictus differs in the following ways:

• Decentralised, allowing absolute autonomy at the city level.
• Unabashedly self serving. The Camarilla nominally exists to protect kindred as a whole. Invictus doesn't claim to owe other kindred anything, although its work to protect the Masquerade does incidentally benefit others and it's often practical to make concessions or even give charity to them.
• Fewer Traditions. The Camarilla has six basic laws, which gives its princes a lot leeway. Invictus inherited half that number from the Lancea et Sanctum, so their princes have even more discretion.

Maybe your Camarilla is an evolution of Invictus. But not all of them want the oversight, plus there's Ur-Than's idea that centralisation threatens the Masquerade. They could be like the Oradea League or Mithras in a way.

Global representation of clans would be radical for VtR, because its clans are far more loosely knit.

[Ur-Than]

Also, Camarilla's structure is based on age because (on average) the older a Vampire, the higher his Generation in Masquarade. Play it up to oppose them to the Invictus which nominally pretends that it's hierarchy is meritocratic and that the best vampires rise higher and faster than the average ones. That's another way to oppose the two.

[monteparnas]

Actually the Camarilla is purported to be meritocratic too, despite obviously not being so much. But I don't think this matters a lot, since the main point is the scope and not just being something distinct from the Invictus. I think the scope itself is valid enough as a difference for the Invictus to oppose such a meddling newcomer to a city.