Sanitarium for Low Humanity Vampires

[Father Enoch]

This week I got the Valkenburg Foundation book (I heard the Skindancers first appeared in it and I was hoping to find some art of them in Skindancer form.)

I didn't find what I was looking for but I did get an idea for an asylum or sanitarium for vampires close to becoming a Draugr. Obviously, it wouldn't be Vampire: the Requiem without something going completely wrong, but I'd still like to imagine what would happen if someone tried.

I don't mean just a dumping ground, like Bedlam or too many other actual sanitariums were, for Vampires on the cusp of Draugr-hood. This is a place meant to actually help Kindred recover Humanity. Or, if you don't mind going for the most likely conflict, force the patients to try and recover their Humanity.

I'm still working on what kind of staff or programs such a facility would have to rehabilitate monstrous Kindred, but right now I'm curious about the bigger picture. What would be more frightening; if the Lancea et Sanctum ran the place, or the Ordo Dracul? Obviously, the temptation for Dragons to exploit the patients for research would be awful, but then again, sanitariums run by clergy weren't so pleasant either...

Would two layers of concrete walls and steel doors work for most cells, or should the Sanitarium rely on mostly occult or blood sorcery means to confine patients? Would the facility use ventilation in the cells, even if it meant the risk of patients using Primeval Miasma (the patients wouldn't need ventilation to survive, but to be reminded that Mortals, who they are supposed to try and relate to, would)?

[Heavy Arms]

I think one thing to consider about this idea before a lot of what you brought up is... how do they recover Humanity in an isolated environment?

Not the specific programs, but if being part of human interactions is important to Humanity. Just locking them up is going to lead to their Humanity dropping, You're going to have to figure out how to expose patients to humans. Their cells can be impossible to escape, but that's not the most dangerous part of the equation.

[21C Hermit]

What Heavy Arms said - we'd need human 'helpers' to restore Humanity. Maybe the sanitarium is not just a building or two, but an entire pseudo-Domain cut away from other vampires, save for the 'doctors' and 'handlers'. Of course, this in turn invites other questions......

[Father Enoch]

I think one thing to consider about this idea before a lot of what you brought up is... how do they recover Humanity in an isolated environment?

Not the specific programs, but if being part of human interactions is important to Humanity. Just locking them up is going to lead to their Humanity dropping, You're going to have to figure out how to expose patients to humans. Their cells can be impossible to escape, but that's not the most dangerous part of the equation.

I am aware of that, I was considering a staff of mostly Ghouls and Mortals to interact with, like how the Valkenburg facility had Kinfolk. Originally the plan was for a single building, but a domain is an interesting idea, maybe something like a certain village...

[adambeyoncelowe]

One thing I could see is some very cunning Draugar developing -- who would be very adept at pretending to be humane. So you'd potentially have a training ground for the most dangerous vampires in the world to become better at blending in, and then being set loose to infiltrate Kindred society and wreak their own unique kinds of havoc.

[Neos01]

I think that actually forcing a vampire to recover humanity in any way is doomed to end poorly.
But probably the Lancea would organize something like a series of evaluation meetings, sponsoring a healthcare structure where vampires who feels at the brink of draughood could enlist to receive psychological support.

[Iguazu]

A character needs human-interactions to regain humanity/mortality; so, isolating them in a sanitarium, will have the opposite-effect, just like in real life.

Edit: And for a vampire to regain humanity, if they get too low, I take Armand's approach; either wall them up to torpor or, throw them into the sabbat.

[Father Enoch]

No Sabbat in Requiem. We have the Circle of the Crone, the Lancea et Sanctum, and the Ordo Dracul.

[Cabaal]

There are hurdles to helping Kindred of low Humanity avoiding going draugr. On Coteries p. 41, there is a discussion of low-Humanity coteries, implying that some end up in really rotten social environments.

[Cabaal]

For an adventure idea, the sanitarium could be swell. I'd try a variation. The player characters' coterie is singled out by the city's sheriff for some community service. The are to be the wardens of a very low-Humanity vampire, and keep that person from going draugr. Fail, and the vampire in question gets to see the sun and might even get company by the coterie. Up and personal, it could make for a quite intense story about the value of Humanity and how it is cultivated.

[Cabaal]

It is an interesting topic; a place where a vampire falling down Humanity improve their connection to the their once human value and (given this is VtR) their self-perception as humans (like in, "humans don't turn into bats" or "humans don't see their grandgrand children die of old age"). What could try the mettle of Kindred to better themselves? What could give them human contact, while staying hidden?

[Iguazu]

No Sabbat in Requiem. We have the Circle of the Crone, the Lancea et Sanctum, and the Ordo Dracul.

Oops, spelling, Sabbath; from Ann Rice, "Thrown into the Sabbath" (a stone fire-pit).

[Neos01]

It is an interesting topic; a place where a vampire falling down Humanity improve their connection to the their once human value and (given this is VtR) their self-perception as humans (like in, "humans don't turn into bats" or "humans don't see their grandgrand children die of old age"). What could try the mettle of Kindred to better themselves? What could give them human contact, while staying hidden?

Well, someone has quoted Ann Rice so what about...

“- Louis: Vampires pretending to be humans, pretending to be vampires. - Claudia: How avant-garde.”

[jsnider3]

I'm still working on what kind of staff or programs such a facility would have to rehabilitate monstrous Kindred, but right now I'm curious about the bigger picture. What would be more frightening; if the Lancea et Sanctum ran the place, or the Ordo Dracul? Obviously, the temptation for Dragons to exploit the patients for research would be awful, but then again, sanitariums run by clergy weren't so pleasant either...

Those don't have to be your only options. You could have the local Invictus run it as a way to sideline their less-sane members in a way that still lets them use their resources or abilities when necessary.

Would two layers of concrete walls and steel doors work for most cells, or should the Sanitarium rely on mostly occult or blood sorcery means to confine patients? Would the facility use ventilation in the cells, even if it meant the risk of patients using Primeval Miasma (the patients wouldn't need ventilation to survive, but to be reminded that Mortals, who they are supposed to try and relate to, would)?

I'd lean heavily on blood sorcery to keep the patients under control. You can't really fortify a prison against *all* of the crazy ways a vampire might try to escape especially if you need the inmates to interact with regular humans routinely.

I'm imagining something like a ski resort. It takes a snowplow to leave, but you can stay in a luxury suite and concierge will get you whatever you need while anyone who stays there too long simply loses interest in ever leaving.

[Cabaal]

Well, someone has quoted Ann Rice so what about...

“- Louis: Vampires pretending to be humans, pretending to be vampires. - Claudia: How avant-garde.”

There is something to that quote. In the old early 90s RPG NightLife there was a strong attachment in the setting to counterculture. It might be an inspiration for Vampire the Requiem, with Kindred cultivating social scenes and subcultures, separated from the mainstream so they are more accepting of curious habits, but still so human that a vampire sliding on their Humanity might benefit from interacting with that scene. Incidentally, NightLife had a Humanity trait that is more similar to Requiem's equivalent, rather than Masquerade's human morality gauge.