While humanity does rule this world, the vampires hold dominance over the night and a sense of superiority over the rest of the supernaturals.  It is the vampires that have allowed the opening of knowledge of the supernatural world to humanity and for it have made the supernatural’s hold within humanity tumultuous, yet slowly easier.  In the eyes of the vampires, the world owes it thanks to them for evening the playing field of life and politics. 

 

Vampires have legal voting rights as American Citizens, least the ones that call their home the United States.  The only other country that can say the same for vampires is Great Britain.  At the very least, they have no troubles when it comes to travelling in and out of the country.  They can run businesses.  They can legally marry.  They even pay taxes.  When it comes to governmental influence, they do share rights with humans that are on par with the federal legal rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

 

That is where their rights end. 

 

Vampires do not go to court as the humans do.  Instead, they and the rest of the supernaturals are monitored by a special unit federal organization that acts as judge and executioner when crimes against humanity may be committed. To undermine this, The vampire’s inner societies are built upon the need for survival and political gain. In general, vampires are organized in a hierarchical structure that branches out to smaller familial groups or small scale groups of similar interests. Every major city with a vampire population has one vampire that rules over it, the Keeper. Each Keeper works politics with one another to ensure their people are safe and their power is secured with alliances. Under this shared respect, all vampires from all walks of life immediately know to live by the following:

• All vampires entering into a new territory must seek an audience with the governing powers to ask permission to stay within the city and be accounted for.  

• All vampires must adhere to all human laws and may only break them under the direct order of the Keeper or their Council.  

• The home of the Vampires, or its Heart, will be seen as a safe ground where no vampires may combat another.

• The property of a vampire is seen as solely theirs, be this in land, structure, or people.  To touch or damage what is claimed by another vampire without that vampire’s permission is seen as an act of disrespect and aggression towards the vampire.

• The Keeper’s ruling is final and absolute.

 

In addition to the cardinal laws, a Keeper may have additional laws.  These are dependent on the city and its inner politics.  Within a City’s Heart, there are the following roles to help maintain order among the Vampires:

• The Mediary - The second in command of the Heart.  The Mediary handles lesser disputes between vampires for the Keeper and acts as a stand-in for vampires that need to follow the laws as set out by the Keeper.  The Mediary is the one to speak to the Keeper on behalf of other vampires or outside forces.  For example, the Mediary is the first point of contact between other factions and race based groups and the vampires. 

• The Constable - If the Mediary is seen as the right hand to the Keeper, then the Constable is the left hand.  The Constable enacts all words as spoken by the Keeper.  They are the head enforcer to carry out the punishment or rewards as bestowed by the Keeper.  If law enforcement needs cooperations with the Heart, they are directed to the Constable in all legal dealings.  When necessary, the Constable is there to do what the Keeper or the Mediary cannot do publicly.  They protect the Heart at all costs.

• The Trinity - The name for the leadership of a given City.  The Trinity will consist of the Keeper, the Mediary, and the Constable.

• The Heirs - The Spokesmen and Spokeswomen of their lineage within a given City and are seen as the ones to watch over the rest of their lineage in all teachings of the laws and existence as a vampire, be it by ensuring all Sires are working with their Childer or that Childer without a Sire present have the watch they need.  They ensure the everyday vampire’s needs are met.

• The Sage - Often one of the oldest vampires in the City, if not the very oldest, the Sage acts as an advisor to the other members of the Council and the Keeper.  They are there to give their wisdom of the centuries in difficult disputes as well as continuing education for the younger that seek them out.  The Sage is the historian to the Heart, the educator, the one that gives all unclaimed childer a place of their own.

 

The Trinity and the Heirs meet once a month or as needed for the population to thrive.  Outside of the Heart, the vampires are filtered down to family units.  Under a family, there is an Elder that will blood bond all vampires to them.  A blood bond enables the Elder to have control over the younger vampires in their family in order to protect them. Each Elder of the Heart blood bonds to their Lineage’s Heir and they are blood bonded to the Trinity in turn.  This system creates a link of accountability among all Vampires.  As one breaks the trust made, so do they harm all in their chain. 

 

Most vampires will know of the Keeper, but rarely, if ever, not have a close relationship to them.  The Keeper is the public voice and face for them so that all vampires can live in secret and the way they desire to.  It is the balance all vampires exist in to ensure their best life for themselves and those in their own families.  It should be noted that not all families are only made of vampires.  However, in the eyes of the Heart, the only true members of the family are those that are vampires.  All others are possessions of the vampires of that family.  This may not be how non-vampires are treated within their families, but is the way they are seen within vampire society. You are either a vampire or a vampire’s property.

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“I will feast upon your essence, leaving naught but a hollow husk."

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General Vampire Advantages

Once you select Vampire on your HUD, you will immediately be rewarded +2 towards your Agility score. However that is not the end of all that is you as a vampire.  By choosing to be one of the Undead, you will immediately have a series of Advantages and Disadvantages that makes you stand out or blend into society as a whole.  These advantages are only geared towards that of the HUD.  It should be noted that when it comes to backgrounds and age, this will be left up to the players, within reason.  Outside of two subtypes (Leannan Sidhe and Dionysia), the maximum age a Vampire can be is 500 years old.  It should be noted that there is no benefit awarded to a Vampire for age within their society, within a chosen Faction, or by the HUD for being old or young. This is purely roleplay flavoring.  

 

Every Vampire will have the same opportunities to advance in the city as any other.  

 

So it is with Advantages and Disadvantages, and they are as follows:

• Preternatural Speed: Vampire are possessed of preternatural speed, that proves many of olde folklore to be true. Unlike many of the other races, Vampires are capable of complex calculations and extraordinary hand-eye coordination, which affects their reflexes, their physical speed, and the ease of which they perform tasks. Counting every rice seed in a sack of instant Rice is a task that would take mere moments, where others would struggle.  Moving across a room in the blink of an eye is just another Tuesday for them.

  • Vampires receive a passive +2 Agility bonus.

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• Living Body Focus: Vampires need blood from the living to gain energy to function. Due to this need, all vampires are uniquely aware of the minute changes within the living body and what that means to their needs. They can smell fresh blood on an individual, they can smell the changes in a body’s chemistry to denote lies, illness, or a change in emotions.  They cannot tell WHY or detect specifics.  They just know the change occurred. It is incredibly hard to hide things from vampires because of this. [Detection Rolls versus living targets are done with Advanage]

  • See Rules for Feeding.

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General Vampire Disadvntages

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• Hot Stuff:  Fire and sunlight are the biggest two bads when it comes to vampires.  A large fire (one big enough to cover the entirety of a palm of the hand) or direct sun rays will set a vampire ablaze. This does go into UV lighting and candle light to a lesser degree. For UV lighting, as it is not true sunlight, it can stun and leave a vampire burn marks, UV lighting will not kill a vampire.  Candle light also can leave a burn mark if it is touched for a long period of time, but it also will not result in a vampire’s demise.

• Decapitation: While vampires can regenerate lost limbs, if that limb is a lost head, this is another matter.  If the brain is separated from the body, the vampire will meet a final death. As a side note, any loss of limb that has the wound burned or cauterized in silver will not heal back.  A scar will form in its place.

• Staking: A stake in the heart paralyzes the vampire and sends them into a vulnerable, death like state.  They are unable to react, awaken or move until the stake is removed.  Upon removal, the vampire will return in a frenzied state until they can feed.

• Vampiric Frenzy: This is the state of starvation, extreme duress (mental, emotional, or physical), or stake induced.  This is a feral state that has no sentience or stop until feeding has occurred.  There is no sense to ‘stop’ when feeding in a frenzy, so it is a given that the one they are feeding on is likely to die if they cannot get the vampire to stop.

• Ingestion: Vampires cannot gain sustenance from food or drink.  They also don’t feel the effects of drugs or alcohol. Older vampires that have not trained their systems to hold food cannot eat or drink at all, but younger vampires still hold onto the food they intake for a few hours before having to vomit it up.  The downside is that the taste buds for anything not of blood do not seem to survive.  No matter what a vampire eats or drinks, it all tastes of ash or is merely tasteless.

• Invitations:  If the property is considered PRIVATE property, like that of home or a private group’s location, then a vampire cannot enter it unless they have specific permission to do so.  If they try to enter the property when not allowed, an unseen force will literally block them from entering even to the point of causing them physical harm to do it.

  • ​Vampire will gain Wounded and Crippled conditions when attempting to enter private property without permission. These conditions may NOT be removed until permissions have been granted.

  • When it is a matter of public property, the vampire can still be banned from entering it if the owner of that public place, or the manager that has been given rights to it by the owner, commands it so.  This makes getting kicked out of a building twice as painful when you are a vampire.

  • For full understanding of who owns a building or has the owner's blessings of a place need only look at the Business Directory or ask the Business Admin for that knowledge.

 

Creating Your Vampire Character
When choosing your lineage, consider not just the powers you'll wield, but the curses you'll bear. Each lineage offers great strength tempered by fundamental weaknesses of character or circumstance. Will you embrace your nature or fight against it? How do the expectations of your lineage shape your place in vampire society?

Remember that these lineages have existed for centuries, each developing their own traditions, rivals, and internal politics. Your character's relationship with their lineage—whether as exemplar, rebel, or something in between—will define much of their story in the world of shadows.

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See the Lineages Page for details about the Vampiric Sub-types.

"Choose wisely, for the blood you carry will shape not only your powers, but your very soul."