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[Gryffon15]

One of the reasons why politeness is required is Elysium is certainly that Camarilla elders are stuffy, but it's certainly not the only reason. All Kindred have a frothing Beast within them, a Beast filled with predatory urges who wants to dominate, hunt, and control. All Kindred can fall into frenzies with horrible consequences from anything as genuinely dangerous as combat or fire or something as petty as a well placed insult or accusation of misconduct could set off.

The reason then why court is fiercely polite is because it allows everyone to construct veils and to distance themselves...

[Gryffon15]

Honestly, given some of the medieval catholic lore surrounding wolves, the idea that there have always been a sub-faction of garou and their kinfolk who operated within the church as its primal defenders makes a lot of sense.

Now I can't help but imagine a hereditary sacred pack of Black Furies, Shadow Lords, and Warders of Men who reside as papal guardians.

[Gryffon15]

They do indeed live in: The Darkest Timeline

[Gryffon15]

Going off of the previous post by 'Mister_Dunpeal', while I don't totally subscribe to the Cyclical Gehenna route for my personal chronicles or headcanon, it did make me think about an element of the Cyclical Gehenna does interest me and thinking about how it effects vampiric society and muddies the water somewhat.

The idea that over the course of centuries and millennia, there are generational events where sleeping ancients rise up and summon their younger kin to them to consume in the infamous "Methuselah's Thirst" as they return to the world.

From the Second...

[Gryffon15]

Honestly, when ones looking into a city, when it comes to wraith I find that looking at the cities founders and developers often provide a smorgasbord of passionate people who have obvious reasons to be bound to the city of the chronicle after death.

[Gryffon15]

THE CAMARILLA & OUTSIDER CLANS

•LASOMBRA
-The Keepers ruled the Mediterranean up to the Convention of Thorns. They were rivals with the Ventrue since Alexander the Great and Rome. They were rivals with Ashirra since Rome fought Persia. They are the shadowy masters of Italian City-States and Iberian dynasties. They exulted in the corruption and conspiracy of the Catholic Church. They bore the dark mark of The Abyss.

•What they did then:
-When the Convention of Thorns rose, the Lasombra as a Clan curled their lip. A few elders attended out of a sense...

[Gryffon15]

Thank you!

Yeah, the War of Prince's definitely helped to facilitate the successes of the first Anarch Revolt.

[Gryffon15]

This is just a little side thing:

I'm in a bit of debate whether or not to have this be a mechanical or narrative thing but basically, just giving more consideration to the idea discussed in lore that vampires come from the embrace with greater vigor and power.

Narratively that night just mean allowing a vampire with average physicals, perception, and appearance to use it a bit more effectively.

Although I'm also considering doing something like this:

Fledgling - 1
Neonate - 2
Ancillae - 3
Elders - 4
Methuselahs - 5...

[Gryffon15]

BOSTON

The period from 1770-1850 in the Era of Sects is considered a time of revolution and tumult, the age when the Anarch Movement was reborn and the first battles over the fate of the new world truly waged. There is truth to this, but it's not entirely accurate. For decades prior, in the taverns of the American & Australian colonies to the ports of the Caribbean and the coffeehouses of France there was talk in the air.

Debate of new ideas, new thoughts, the nature of man and his natural rights and privileges. The evolution of secularism as man wondered if God was...

[Gryffon15]

Thank you all for your responses!

I spent a good portion of last night and earlier today musing on this topic and what everyone had to say here was very useful.

I think it's helped me gain a better idea of the nature of power in the Camarilla. With Princes holding to a loosely aligned confederation organized by convocation and justicars and wiry the Inner Circle assuring their continued power by maintaining direct control over the appointment of Dux Bellorum and Justicars.

It also lead me to the revelation that since Justicars are theoretically replaced every...

[Gryffon15]

Something I'm musing on and I'm wondering what people are thinking:

Do y'all feel that the Camarilla could use slightly more sketched out infrastructure to define their organization?

Because arguably, with their reliance upon the Inner Council and roving Warlords & Justicars, the Camarilla oddly have a less clear hierarchy of organization then the Sabbat with their regional ladder from Ductus up to Cardinal & Regent.

Anyway, that's the musing I've been having reading through the Guide to the Camarilla and V20 Companion. Thanks for reading this and...

[Gryffon15]

SECT GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE

In the aftermath of the Convention of Thorns in the final decade of the 1400s, which bridged the late Middle Ages and the early Modern Era. The Convention of Thorns marked the end of the War of Princes as well as the First Anarch Revolt.

European kindred congregated primarily to two sects or remained autarkis. The Camarilla was formed during the Convention of Thorns and brought back childer and elders into line by guaranteeing certain rights and privileges for them both with the rest forming the militant Sabbat sect and the Anarch Movement going...

[Gryffon15]

I would personally rule it that a Sidhe feels a weakened version of it before they complete their fostering and saining, and this low-level form will follow them forever, but the true curse only falls totally once one completes their formal entry into the house and swear their oaths.

I like this ruling as it allows for a certain wiggle room and reflects the importance of house oaths in determining the fate of nobility within the internal consistency of The Dreaming while also allowing for the nature of old blood curses to have an impact upon those touched by them despite modern c...

[Gryffon15]

Aye, C20 has done a better job then previous editions of saying that anything and everything that inspires passion, motivation, feeling and the like produces glamour.

Glamour and Dark Glamour are both passion and inspiration. Whether fear that drives people towards better behavior or the inspired passion of a political activist (Glamour) or the terror of a car crash and the dread of a slowly pursuing hunter (Dark Glamour).

This means that Banality is not, as it's sometimes considered, sadness or misery. There is Glamour in sadness. No, banality is an absence of glamour....

[Gryffon15]

This is a personal nitpick of mine, but I've never liked the sheer number of ancient kindred that White Wolf placed into the New World from the old. In my opinion, moving across countries should be rare enough for creatures that old, much less moving between continents and across a massive and dangerous ocean crossing.

I usually shift 80-90% of the old world elders and methuselahs back into europe with a few compromises for the most valuable and prominent kindred domains such as New York City, Chicago, Mexico City, Quebec, Los Angeles, etc. Even the canon npcs I keep, I usually back-drift...

[Gryffon15]

Yo those are all some really cool places! I need to get some more practical stuff like this together but mage has always been one of those things that I have a trickier time with getting myself into the practical matters because there is such a broad spectrum that it can operate at, from the most pariah and guerrilla street game to the most highflying and quintessence flinging umbral game.

Honestly it's a big reason about why I like to put out threads like these to reap ideas and thoughts together.

[Gryffon15]

So I've recently been thinking about the late Middle Ages and basically what vampire's backyard, Europe, looked like during the lead-up to the creation of the sects. So, hope people find this interesting as it's something of a fusion of canon and historically inspired headcanon:

SECT LEAD-UPS

GENERAL OVERVIEW
•Due to a period of climate shift, the centuries before the Convention of Thorns were plagued in Europe literally by the Black Plague and famines such as the Great Famine of 1315-1317, not to mention endemic warfare between European powers. This major population...

[Gryffon15]

Like Zenten said, the two realms are certainly tied in a number of strong ways but it ultimately comes to a somewhat subjective or nuanced line of division.

The High Umbra is a purely ethereal realm of abstraction, perception, and mental constructs born from the highest realms of reason and consciousness. The Dreaming is a purely inspiring realm of passion, dream, narrative, and human belief & feeling.

The two realms certainly have a great deal in common but I'd argue that they do have some important distinctions. The High Umbra is decidedly a realm of mental construction...

[Gryffon15]

This might turn into a mini series or it might just be a couple for the clans I really enjoy, but let's talk one of my favorite clans.

GENERAL BRUJAH
•90-95% of Brujah are of Troile's lineage. The True Brujah exist but they are historically centered around Istanbul (once Constantinople), Baghdad, London, & New England.

•Brujah are the riotous clan. The clan of rebels and rioters. The revolutionaries. Brujah are both the loyal opposition within the Camarilla, leaders of the Sabbat, and the meat and potatoes of the Anarch Movement.

•The Brujah...

[Gryffon15]

I really appreciate your insights and ideas here about the culture and behavior of the various traditions as that's always been the neat and potatoes of what's drawn me to the World of Darkness, given I'm not always the best person at handling crunch.

I really do enjoy thinking about how these mystical cultures present and behave realistically within the setting and how they interact with one another.