Much of the folklore surrounding vampires speaks of their effect on the beasts  
of the world. Mankind might be unaware of the evil in its midst, but the        
faithful dog will bristle, the horse will rear in fright, the birds will stop   
their song.

This is one piece of folklore that is absolutely true in     
regards to vampires, and sometimes their servants as well. Animals know you for 
what you are, no matter how "nice" a monster you may think of yourself
as being. Herbivores will generally flee unless young are threatened, while     
carnivores may flee or attack, but in general they will make a spectacle of     
themselves and it will be somewhat obvious that you are the focus of their      
anxiety. The more Beast Traits your character has, the greater this reaction    
will be. There are only three exceptions to this:

a) The animal is       
ghouled or blood bound. Such a creature is unnatural in of itself. If it has    
Beast Traits, other animals, even those of its own kind, will likely find it    
offensive.

b) The vampire or ghoul possesses the Animalism discipline at 
any level. This will work automatically, except if the character is in frenzy,  
in which case it automatically fails.

c) If the vampire or ghoul         
possesses the Animal Ken skill, they may +contest their Animal Ken rating       
against their number of Beast Traits - if they win or tie this contest, animals 
will find them inoffensive for the duration of a scene. Again, being in frenzy  
will negate this possibility.
                                               

Arbitration:

Most situations should be resolvable between the players    
involved. However, if you can't agree on something (Eg, Advantage on a test,    
etc) you may ask a nearby uninvolved player to decide the issue for you. If     
you're still unhappy, ask an Arbiter. The Arbiter's decision is                 
binding.

Code is in place to allow players to prove they have stats at   
the totals they are claiming. (+help character/prove)

While you're       
seeking arbitration, please try to stay in character should anything else occur 
meantime and not hold up the game for other players. Also, before requesting    
arbitration, please read +news policies/arbitration. 
                       

This game does not use standard White Wolf Storyteller rules. Nor does it use   
Mind's Eye Theatre rules. The rules used here are a simplified and modified     
blend of both systems that has been found to work very well in MUSH environments
and live-action games. Everything you need to play here can be found with +news,
+help, or +listinfo.

The system has been designed to work fluidly,       
quickly, and without access to a staff Narrator, Judge, or Storyteller. We have 
endeavored to equip the players of this MUSH with all of the tools that they    
need to judge each other and themselves for most tasks and events. See +help IC 
and +help Character for various code to facilitate the application of the game  
systems of this MUSH.

Any situation which can be resolved by roleplaying 
rather than rules -should be-. The rules are a last resort. Anytime the involved
parties can work something out without having to resort to +contests, they      
should. Anytime they are not able to, all players should abide by these systems 
and policies presented in +news.

If you have difficulty with any of these
autojudge systems or have an idea that our systems are not designed to address, 
please do not hesitate to contact an available member of staff for              
assistance.
                                                                 

Yielding to the Beast:

If you Yield to the Beast, you automatically gain 
a Beast Trait. Why? The Beast within each vampire constantly strains to come to 
the fore. If you fail to resist it all the time, then it will grow in strength. 
The Beast is -bad-. So, what is 'Yielding to the Beast?'

** If you       
frenzy, having failed to expend temporary Willpower to resist the frenzy. Having
no Willpower is not an excuse. The Beast is implacable.
** Spending Willpower
during frenzy for any reason other than to come out of frenzy.
** Voluntarily
frenzying for any reason.

So long as you do not Yield to the Beast, the  
Beast will not gain lasting control over you... even if you enter frenzy.
   

DAMNATION THROUGH BEAST TRAITS:

If you Yield to the Beast, you must      
engage in a Beast Check. So what is Beast Check?

FIRST, perform a contest
of the number of your Beast Traits against 2. If your Beast Traits win, you've  
gained a Monstrous Beast Trait. If they lose or tie, you've gained a Subhuman   
Beast Trait.
SECOND, your RegArch chooses what specific Beast Trait is       
acquired. The only exception is if you agree to accept a Stigma as well         
(+listinfo Stigmas) in which case you can select the specific Beast Trait as    
well as the Stigma you receive.

You can +listinfo beast-traits to see the
available Beast Traits.

When a character has five Beast Traits, the Beast
consumes it. Its personality is destroyed, and the Beast takes over permanently.
It is ruled by a perpetual frenzy. The character will have a short existence as 
a raving Beast and a Theme NPC (see +News Policies/NPC) before being removed    
from play. Being irredeemably Damned, the character is effectively dead.
    

Salvation with Beast Traits:

Losing Beast Traits is a matter of will,    
time, desire to lose them, and many other factors. Such salvation is largely a  
matter of role-play that will involve intimate discussions with your RegArch.   
However, there are some unavoidable considerations for this struggle that cannot
be ignored. To lose a Beast Trait one must resist it, repeatedly, over a long   
period of time - and never enter frenzy because of it. Losing control even once 
means you have to start all over again. It is not sufficient to resist          
temptation, you must confront it, and survive.

This process involves a   
lot of role-playing issues to be discussed with your RegArch. In the end, if    
your RegArch approves, you may buy off a Subhuman Beast Trait for 10 experience 
points, or a Monstrous Beast Trait for 25 experience points. Buying off your    
last Beast Trait costs double.
                                              

Blood:

Blood points may be expended to add to physical attributes. A     
physical attribute cannot normally be increased above 5 in this manner. The     
increase lasts for one situation or scene, for example - one combat, while you  
attempt to break down a door and wreck the room on the other side. When you come
out of frenzy, if any of your physical statistics are enhanced, they return to  
normal.

Blood points can also be expended to heal wounds. One blood point
will restore one health level. Aggravated wounds can only be healed during the  
day when you are asleep and cost three blood points to heal. You can only heal  
one aggravated wound per day's sleep.

The number of blood points you can 
spend on any one test is noted on your character sheet. If you're spending them 
outside of tests, the number is how many blood points you can expend in 5       
seconds. The effects of these points will last till the end of the              
situation.

Blood use is coded (+help ic/blood). 
                     

Example:
Kurt is trying to break down a door. He has 10 blood points, and can
only spend one per test. His strength is 2, and he knows he cant break it down  
at that level. He expends one blood point, waits 5 seconds, then expends        
another. Then he tries to break the door down. He fails, so he expends another  
blood point, bringing his strength to the maximum of 5. Now, he succeeds, and   
the door shatters. The situation is over, so his strength falls back to its     
original 2. 
                                                                

Blood Bonds:

Drinking the blood of a vampire creates a strong one-way    
bond between the drinker and the vampire. To create a full blood bond, the blood
of a vampire must be drunk on three separate nights.

After the first     
drink, the drinker will feel a mild affection for the vampire for the rest of   
the night, perhaps not something that would even be noticed as unusual. After   
the second drink, this feeling grows into a genuine affection that will last up 
to a full week. If this is at odds with the drinkers normal feelings, they may  
suspect something is out of place when this wears off. After the third drink,   
the drinker is blood-bonded - in effect, in love with the vampire.

A     
blood bond is lasting; for a mortal it is effectively permanent. For a vampire, 
the bond will last a full century without drinking again. The Final Death of a  
vampire instantly dissolves any bonds to those it has in thrall, which the      
thralls may experience as a psychic shock. A mortal or ghoul's death will free  
it from a bond, which is only really of concern in the case of the Embrace. A   
sire that Embraces a ghoul who has been at their side for decades may find that 
the new Childe's devotion to them is not quite what they are used to.
       

A vampire cannot blood-bond their own sire, or any of their direct          
progenitors -- the bond will automatically fail. ("Uncles" are fair   
game.)

When a vampire drinks another vampire's blood, the drinker will   
know, without fail, that the blood is powerful. An elder's blood, is likewise   
even more powerful. Whether the drinker realizes what this means depends on     
experience (Have they knowingly drunk vampire blood before? The embrace doesn't 
count.), but they will know it as potent and powerful.

A 'drink' is      
defined as at least one blood point transferred via the +blood code (see +help  
ic/blood), in game terms. In 'real' terms, one blood point represents at least a
half a pint in volume, up to a full pint for those of 1st Sanguinis. This is    
quite a large quantity, and means that it is all but impossible to              
'accidentally' make someone a ghoul or one-step bond them. Nor can you do so    
subtly, by spiking the victim's wine, having your lip cut as you kiss them, etc.
Fill that goblet with pure vitae and make 'em drink it. Vampirism and ghouling  
is a bloody business, and anything less than a full blood point will have no    
effects on the recipient, besides perhaps tasting odd as noted above. Of course,
if you don't have the appropriate lore levels, you can and possibly even should 
RP ignorance of this fact.
                                                  

A person (vampire or mortal) can only be subject to one blood bond; only the
first bond put in place holds power. There is no limit to the number of bonds a 
character may inflict. It is rumoured that certain very powerful Tremere rituals
can break blood bonds.

The blood bond gives one other specific advantage:
you may *command* someone who is blood bonded to you via Dominate without eye   
contact being required and without any range restrictions. However, you must    
still communicate your command to the subject, and use the dominate power at the
moment they receive the message - but this may be by telephone, or even delayed 
recording if you can get the timing right somehow. Yes, this is an exception to 
our technology theme, although not an exception in that you had better hope you 
have a good connection.
                                                     

Cold blood is blood that has been removed from its host for some time. Blood, in
and of itself, is simply not enough for a vampire to feed on; there is a need   
for the act of feeding, or perhaps some energy in the blood that fades quickly  
after it is spilled. The details are argued by the Tremere at length, but the   
effects are well known among vampires.

Blood removed from a mortal body  
loses all nutritional value for a vampire after merely an hour. Refrigeration   
seems to accelerate the process, not slow it. Blood that has been separated out,
or processed is useless.

Blood removed from a vampire body is more       
robust. Vampire blood can retain the full measure of its potency for up to a    
full night. However, no matter how fresh, vampire blood outside of the body of a
vampire becomes ash at the break of dawn.

Some might know that the       
Tremere have rituals which can preserve blood. For what you might know of any of
the information contained in this file, see +news lores/vampire lore. What you  
see there is the extent of what you can know.
                               

Damage and healing are fully coded (see +help ic/hurt, and +help ic/blood), but 
this is a quick summary so you understand what's going on.

Injured       
mortals heal slowly. +sheet will tell you how long it will be until you recover 
your next health level. Blood loss can also kill a mortal, as little as 3 points
of blood lost can be fatal. Perhaps less if they have not fully recovered from  
the last feeding (which takes longer than the effects take to fade). +sheet also
lists the effects of blood loss.

Vampires and ghouls can heal            
non-aggravated wounds with vitae. This is coded into the +blood command, and    
usually occurs on a 1:1 basis.

Ghouls cannot heal aggravated wounds with 
vitae, these must heal over time per the normal mortal healing rules. 
      

Vampires do not heal over time as mortals do, but each day, as they sleep, their
body attempts to restore itself to the condition it was in at Embrace. If a     
vampire is wounded when day falls, the following happens:

1) If the      
vampire has any aggravated wounds, one level will be healed, and the vampire    
will lose 3 vitae. If the vampire does not have 3 vitae, they lose their        
remaining vitae, heal one aggravated wound level, and enter torpor.

2)   
The vampire heals as many non-aggravated wound levels throughout the day as they
can, expending one blood for each. If they do not have enough vitae, they will  
simply heal as many as possible.

3) If the vampire is not in voluntary   
torpor, they lose 1 vitae. If the vampire does not have any vitae, they enter   
torpor.

The above steps are not optional. They happen whether the vampire
desires it or not, and in the order presented. It will be apparent that vampires
do not like entering sleep while wounded. 
                                  

A vampire can heal the feeding bite by licking the wound. This is limited to
healing 1 level of aggravated damage from a puncture bite caused *only* by the  
vampire's own fangs. This approach cannot be used to heal the tearing bites     
sometimes used in combat, nor to heal the aggravated wounds caused by Protean   
claws.

A vampire can heal one level of aggravated damage by drinking a   
point of vitae from another vampire of higher Sanguinis. This can also bring a  
vampire out of torpor. (See also: +news systems/torpor.) Note that these        
particular effects are not coded and will need staff assistance.
            

Diablerie is a dark, evil word that is not mentioned lightly in polite vampire  
society. Please refer to '+news lores/vampire' to see if you have any knowledge 
of such things.

For those with the lores to know, diablerie is the       
process of bringing another vampire to Final Death by drinking all of their     
blood. Diablerie consumes the very essence of a vampire, stealing the power of  
their blood. It is regarded as the worst sin a vampire can commit.

There 
are rumors, which are discouraged by Elder vampires, that committing diablerie  
on a vampire of stronger blood (i.e. higher Sanguinis) will increase the        
strength of one's own blood. It is also whispered to bring terrible burdens to  
the diabolist, as well as great power.

A diablerist's aura is marked     
distinctively for some considerable time, and the punishment for diablerie is   
almost invariably death.

The rules for diablerie will not be disclosed   
here. If your character decides to take this path, then you can discover the    
affects as your character does. Again, bear in mind your character's access to  
information about diablerie in '+news lores/vampire                             

Disciplines and powers:

For each discipline or power you have, there's a 
'card' with the power detailed on it, so you can show a target of the power how 
it works. These power 'cards' are coded with the +power command (See: +help     
character/power).

Most powers will work automatically, without a roll -  
but many can be resisted. The resistance roll for most discipline-based contests
is usually based on half your Willpower, so is unlikely to succeed without      
spending a willpower point.

Note that powers are all assumed to work     
unless you successfully resist them - the onus is on the player resisting the   
power - and a tie on the contest means failure to resist (or partial resistance 
by agreement between players).

Characters are not automatically aware    
that a power has been used on them, no matter how experienced they might be. If 
detection of power use cannot be resolved through cooperative role-playing,     
please see +news FAQ/detecting disciplines
                                  

When a power card shows a resistance test, you may resist that power if you     
challenge the power user to the contest mentioned on the card, and win. A tie is
not enough to resist a supernatural power.

The power user is not aware   
that a power has been resisted unless it's obvious from the effects, or the     
target spent multiple (more than one) willpower points to resist. Such a massive
effort of will cannot go unnoticed.

If you successfully resist a power,  
you will have still felt it affect you momentarily. This may be enough for you  
to suspect something was amiss, depending on the circumstances. Again, if the   
players cannot come to an agreement, please see +news FAQ/detecting             
disciplines

Although you cannot read the cards for powers you do not have
(unless someone is using the power on you, and shows you the card), you can get 
an overview of what the powers do through the +explain command, eg: +explain    
Auspex.

See also: +help character/explain. 
                          

Example:

Emerson uses Dominate2 on me, in the course of a normal         
conversation, says to me: "I would truly appreciate it if you would /tell  
me who is responsible for that graffiti/." The card says:

You may   
resist this power with a test of:
 Willpower/2 vs Manipulation+Leadership    


In order to resist the command, I must challenge Emerson using half my  
current willpower, and defeat his Manipulation+Leadership. I imagine I'd have to
burn a lot of willpower to have any chance of resisting, and this would leave me
more vulnerable to later uses of powers, so I don't bother resisting.

The
request is quite well-disguised as part of the conversation, and its not        
completely improbable that I'd tell Prince Emerson this if I knew. I'll likely  
never know that he Dominated me.

Of course, not all power users are as   
subtle as Emerson....
                                                       

On some occasions, two powers might be used in opposition to each other in a    
contradictory manner. These apparent contradictions can generally be resolved   
through negotiation.

If negotiation fails, the character who proves to   
have the higher discipline or path level related to the power they are          
attempting to use has the superior effect without need to +contest. If the two  
power users have have equal discipline levels, the power effects moot each      
other. For all purposes, disciplines are considered to be superior to paths of  
the same level.
                                                             

To spend your character's experience points, use +xp/request. See '+help        
character/xp' for details. This applies for both vampire and mortal characters. 
Staff reserve the right to reject any XP expend request that is not sufficiently
justified.

Vampires and mortals have separate experience point costs as  
follows:

(Mortals) To purchase a character improvement with experience   
points costs the amount noted below. The notation "10,x7", for        
example, means that buying an initial level of that trait costs 10 experience   
points, with further levels requiring 7 times your current level in experience -
eg, level 3 will cost 2x7=14 experience points. The points listed below apply   
only to mortal characters and ghouls.

 Attributes ,x4
 Abilities      
3,x2
 Backgrounds (except Influences) 5,x5
 Willpower ,x2
 Disciplines 
(ghouls only) 25,x20
 3 Language Points 1 XP
 For Influences, see '+help  
character/xp'
                                                               

(Vampires) To purchase a character improvement with experience points costs the 
amount noted below. The notation "10,x7", for example, means that     
buying an initial level of that trait costs 10 experience points, with further  
levels requiring 7 times your current level in experience - eg, level 3 will    
cost 2x7=14 experience points. The costs noted below apply only to vampire      
characters. Numbers in brackets, eg (1), indicate a note that can be viewed on  
the following pages.

Attributes --,x4
Abilities (except Lores)        
3,x2
Home Lores 2,x1 (1)
Other Lores 3,x2 (2)
Backgrounds 5,x5         
(3)
Additional Thaum Path 7,x4 (4)
Clan Discipline 10,x5
Non-Clan      
Discipline 10,x7 (5)(6)
Caitiff Disciplines 10,x6
Ritual Level of ritual x
2
Willpower --,x2
3 Language Points 1 XP (7)
                          

(Vampire stuff continued.:)
(1) Your Home Lores are: Vampire Lore, your Sect 
Lore, your Clan Lore, and your Domain Lore.

(2) You can only learn       
other's Lores if someone with that Lore is prepared to teach you. In play, it   
will cost the teacher 1/3 of the XP that the student pays. Eg, if you learn     
level 2 of a non-clan lore, you pay 2 XP, and your teacher pays 1 XP.

(3)
You may not buy Standing with XP. You may not buy Status, Reputation, Clan      
Prestige, or Influences in play with XP, as these are controlled by other IC    
systems.
                                                                    

(Vampire stuff continued.:)
(4) There are some restrictions on purchasing    
Paths. You can only purchase Paths that originate within your tradition of      
Thaumaturgy using these costs. Other Paths must be purchased as non-clan        
disciplines, and suitably justified (see note 5). Almost all available paths,   
however, are Tremere Tradition paths.

(5) Vampires may normally only     
learn disciplines that are present in their blood. See +news systems/non-clan   
disciplines for an explanation of this mechanic.

(6) Without express     
permission of their RegArch, vampires may not buy disciplines with XP until XP  
spent on disciplines is 1/2 or less their total XP spent. This will be          
determined using +xp/disc (see: +help character/xp)

(7) Application      
characters may PRE-BUY language points in their application at a cost of 1 AppXP
for 5 language points. Once in play the cost is 3 for 1.                        

There are some things, which although you could afford to buy with experience   
points, aren't really justified within our view of the World of Darkness. If you
ask to buy something like this, your RegArch is perfectly entitled to refuse, or
to insist that you pay double experience points for it..

Some examples of
things we consider unjustified:
Level 4 disciplines when you're not an       
Ancilla or Elder.
Level 5 disciplines when you're not an Elder.
Level 4   
and 5 lores when you don't have age and experience to back them up.

..   
and anything else your RegArch thinks isn't sufficiently justified. These       
limitations are put in place for game balance and thematic consistency; please  
work with staff to accomplish these goals.
                                  

Frenzy Triggers:

Vampires have within them a Beast that constantly fights
for control. Usually vampires are able to keep the Beast in check, but in       
certain situations the Beast gains in strength, the vampires lose control...    
they frenzy. Frenzy triggers, situations which call for a character to make a   
frenzy check, include the following:

a) Lack of blood induces frenzy in a
variety of situations. A vampire with only two blood points is triggered to     
frenzy if they see, taste, or smell any blood source other than a vampire.      
Vampires down to a single blood point are in danger of frenzying if they see,   
taste or smell any source of blood at all. A vampire with no blood points is    
induced to frenzy even if no blood source is around. These frenzies normally    
take the form of a Hunger Frenzy (see below).

b) Being threatened with,  
taking damage from, or being confined by fire or sunlight triggers frenzy. Minor
flame sources that aren't used in a threatening manner (lighters, cigarettes,   
etc.) do not usually trigger frenzy. Frenzy caused in this manner normally takes
the form of a Fear Frenzy (see below). Also see +news faq/stigmas.

c)    
Extreme provocation or threat triggers frenzy. Frenzy caused in this manner     
normally takes the form of a Rage Frenzy (see below).

d) Anything        
matching the events described in one of your Beast Traits will cause you to     
check for frenzy.
                                                           

Resisting Frenzy Triggers:

Every time a vampire is faced with a new      
frenzy trigger in a scene, they must either give in to the frenzy or make a     
frenzy check to resist. A frenzy check is a contest of the number of the        
vampire's Beast Traits+1 ("the Beast") against current willpower/2.   
The current willpower/2 can be raised by +3 for every willpower point that the  
character expends to resist the frenzy. (Willpower spent for this purpose does  
not reduce current willpower for this contest.) If the Beast loses or ties the  
contest, there is no frenzy. If the Beast prevails, the character frenzies in   
reaction to the trigger.

It should also be noted that Malkavians receive 
advantage in frenzy contests, while the Beast receives advantage against Brujah 
in frenzy contests.

For example, Joe Malkavian is extremely threatened   
and faces a Rage Frenzy. He has 4 Beast Traits and 4 current willpower, so his  
default frenzy contest would be 5 vs 2 + advantage. However, Joe expends 1      
willpower point to get +3 to add to his current willpower. So the contest       
becomes 5 vs 5 + advantage. The contest occurs, and the defender wins. Joe      
Malkavian does not frenzy. This time. No one holds off the Beast                
forever.

Losing a frenzy contest after having failed to expend willpower 
in defense is a Bad Thing (tm). See +News Systems/Beast Traits for details.
 

Types of Frenzy:

Hunger Frenzy - a character in Hunger Frenzy will do    
anything to get blood. Now! The frenzy lasts until the character is fully fed,  
and you'll tend to drink victims dry. If no suitable vessels are present, you   
will hunt one down through bestial instinct, uncaring of                        
consequences.

Fear Frenzy - a character in Fear Frenzy is panicked, they 
will do anything to escape the cause of their fear. If they cannot find a way to
escape, and something stands in their way, they may enter a Rage                
Frenzy.

Rage Frenzy - a character in Rage Frenzy is overcome with anger. 
They will attack the cause of their anger and keep attacking until it is        
destroyed or they are incapacitated. If the cause of the anger is unreachable,  
they will attack whatever is nearest to them.

Note that a character in   
frenzy is lost to the Beast. Dominate and Presence cannot affect someone who is 
already in frenzy. However, if Dominate or Presence is already in effect, and   
frenzying is likely to cause the affected vampire to violate the Dominate or    
Presence effect - then the affected vampire MUST spend at least one Willpower   
point to resist frenzy, even down to their last point of Willpower.

Also 
note that vampires in frenzy are not affected by wound penalties until they are 
Incapacitated.
                                                              

Leaving Frenzy:

Frenzy is much harder to fight while it is occurring. In 
frenzy you are lost to the Beast, and your conscious mind is totally submerged. 
In order to leave frenzy you must find a way to assert your conscious mind over 
your Beast, then spend a willpower point to end the frenzy. The following       
methods can be used:

** If you are hunger frenzying upon another vampire 
and do not possess the Diablerie Beast Trait, you may spend a Willpower point to
avoid committing diablerie, and leave Frenzy.
** If you are about to do      
something against your Nature, you may spend a Willpower point and leave        
Frenzy.
** If the stimulus that caused your Frenzy has gone, you may spend a 
Willpower point and leave Frenzy.

10 minutes after the stimulus has gone,
you will leave frenzy without spending Willpower.

Once you have made a   
successful frenzy check against a certain stimulus or Beast Trait, you do not   
need to check again during the same scene (or the same night, if the definition 
of a 'scene' is uncertain). If on the other hand you failed your check, later   
manage to leave Frenzy, and the stimulus is still present, you may need to do a 
frenzy contest again if you cannot escape the stimulus.
                     

What is a ghoul?
 A ghoul is a human with vampire blood in their system. The 
interaction between vampire and mortal blood is what makes a ghoul. To become a 
ghoul, a human must drink a full point of vampire blood. They remain so until   
they have had no vampiric vitae for a month.

What are the powers of      
ghouls?
* A ghoul has a vitae pool of up to half the size of the pool of the 
vampire they most regularly feed from, or 5 if they don't feed regularly from   
the same vampire.
* They can use this vitae in all the same ways vampires can
- except that they cannot heal aggravated damage with blood.
* While a ghoul 
is a ghoul, they don't age, and are immune to most diseases.
* Ghouls get    
Potence 1 when they have been a ghoul for an unbroken month. They lose it again 
when they are no longer a ghoul.
* Ghouls may, with difficulty, learn        
disciplines from vampires. The requirements for a teacher are the same as for   
teaching a vampire a non-clan discipline - but the experience point cost is much
higher. The maximum level a ghoul may learn a discipline to is 1, unless the    
teacher has Sanguinis of 7 or greater.
* Ghouls have no home lores. However, 
when learning lores from the vampire from whom they regularly feed, the vampire 
is considered to have Instruction 1 as to the ghoul. See: +explain Instruction. 

What are the weaknesses of ghouls?
* Ghouls can fear-frenzy or rage-frenzy   
under extreme provocation. They can also gain Beast Traits in the same way as   
vampires, even though they don't start with any.
* Ghouls are usually        
blood-bonded.
* Ghouls lose one vitae point per month

What happens    
when a vampire feeds from a ghoul?
* Nothing. Vampires cannot draw sustenance
from ghouls. Each point of blood taken (perhaps because of a hunger frenzy)     
inflicts a point of damage on the ghoul (as it does with a mortal), without     
conferring any benefit to the vampire.

What about animal ghouls?
*    
Animal ghouls typical have much smaller vitae pools than human ghouls, usually  
half the size that a human ghoul would have. They may get a different free      
discipline dot. Eg, while a dog ghoul gets Potence 1, a cat ghoul might get     
Celerity 1, etc. This will be handled on a case by case basis. 
             

What happens when a ghoul expends or loses all their vitae?
* Nothing right  
away. However, precisely one lunar cycle - for our purposes, 30 days - from the 
time the last point of vitae leaves their system, the ghoul will return to      
human, unless re-fed in that time period.

 Upon returning to human, the  
ghoul will lose its Potence and any other disciplines, which it will not be able
to regain if re-ghouled, except through being taught and buying them again with 
XP. Note that any blood bonds will remain intact.

 The ghoul will also,  
within a few seconds' time, progress to their natural age, an effect both       
horrific and fatal for those ghouls who are long past their mortal lifespans.   
Note that you should have at least Vampire Lore 3 to be aware of this fact ICly,
although it is possible you may find out the truth the hard way.

 The    
above effects are not coded, as we expect them to be a rare occurrence. Please  
inform your RegArch if there is danger of your character going unghouled.
   

DEFINING YOUR INFLUENCES

Influences on this MUSH amalgamate all of a     
character's mortal allies, contacts, and overall control in specific areas. See 
'+listinfo backgrounds' for a list of available influence areas. Then '+explain 
<influence type>' to get more particularized information.

What your
influences mean for your character are ultimately decided by negotiation between
an Architect and you. The results of this negotiation are memorialized by way of
+jnotes. (See +help char/jnote.) Regardless of what your character application  
or secret info says and regardless of what your influence rating might be, you  
can only rely upon the influences as they are described and set in a            
+jnote.

In negotiating your influence +jnote, you are limited first by   
your creativity and then second by your influence stat. The +explain data for   
your influence area provides more specificity as to the upper limits of each    
influence level. You cannot negotiate your influences past these                
parameters.

To acquire more influences after character generation, see   
'+xp/influence <influence type>'. See also: +help char/xp.                

USING YOUR INFLUENCES

Each time that your character takes an influence   
action, your character must expend a current influence point. See '+help        
char/influence' for more details on how this is done. An influence action       
includes doing anything related to your influences that could affect any other  
character, and it also includes anything with your influences that requires     
staff assistance to resolve. This also means that if you do not have current    
influence points, you cannot take an influence action.

Influence actions 
are resolved by negotiation. There is no way to avoid this, for influences are  
complicated matters. Fortunately, an influence's +jnote can be shown to other   
players. This permits players to determine with each other what +contests (+help
char/contest), if any, are necessary to resolve an influence action. Otherwise, 
an Architect can be contacted to facilitate the resolution of such              
matters.

If your character negotiates an influence effect with an        
Architect that might be used often, you may have a separate +jnote set for this 
separate effect. However, staff will be reluctant to set more than one of these 
effects, so choose carefully.                                                   

GAINING INHUMANITY TRAITS:

A vampire who engages in any wrongdoing risks 
gaining an Inhumanity Trait. Any wrongdoing includes theft, causing another to  
suffer (mental, physical, or emotional), feeding without consent, creating a    
ghoul or another vampire, accidentally violating your own personal ethics, and  
anything worse. If such wrongdoing occurs, the vampire must undergo an          
Inhumanity Check subject to staff review. So what is an Inhumanity              
Check?

FIRST, check your list of Inhumanity Traits. If your wrongdoing is
covered by one of your Inhumanity Traits, go no further.
SECOND, perform a   
contest of your number of Inhumanity Traits you have against 2. Willpower cannot
be used to gain advantage or otherwise affect this contest. If your Inhumanity  
Traits prevail or tie, you've been lucky this time, and you can stop            
here.
THIRD, perform another contest of the number of your Inhumanity Traits 
against 2. If your Inhumanity Traits win, you've gained a Monstrous Inhumanity  
Trait. If they lose or tie on this second contest, you've gained a Subhuman     
Inhumanity Trait.
FOURTH, your RegArch chooses what specific Inhumanity Trait
is acquired. The only exception is if you agree to accept a Stigma (+listinfo   
Stigmas) in which case you can select the specific Inhumanity Trait as well as  
the Stigma you receive. 
                                                    

DAMNATION WITH INHUMANITY TRAITS:

When a character has five or more      
Inhumanity Traits, the character is effectively a Monster. It has lost all      
traces of its humanity. Such Monsters will be considered Theme NPC's. (See +News
Policies/NPC.) The Theme Architects reserve the right to take such Monsters out 
of play in a manner of their own choosing, and they will likely do              
so.

See +listinfo Inhumanities for specific information as to each one.  

                                                                            

SALVATION WITH INHUMANITY TRAITS:

Losing Inhumanity Traits is subject to 
a multitude of factors specific to the Inhumanity Trait to be lost. Such        
salvation is largely a matter of role-play that will involve intimate           
discussions with your RegArch. However, one consideration is common to all      
Inhumanity Traits. To eliminate an Inhumanity Trait, the character must not     
engage in any wrongdoing that pertains to it, and the character must do this for
a long period of time.

Again, salvation comes down to role-playing issues
to be discussed with your RegArch. In the end, if your RegArch approves, you may
buy off a Subhuman Inhumanity Trait for 10 experience points, or a Monstrous    
Inhumanity Trait for 25 Experience Points. Buying off your last Inhumanity Trait
costs double. Buying off an Inhumanity Trait that originates as a clan          
disadvantage costs triple, if it is possible at all. 
                       

Nature and Demeanor:

Your Nature reflects a deep core of your            
personality. Anyone who knows your Nature will find it much easier to provoke or
manipulate you.

Your Demeanor is what you seem to be like, the face you  
present to other people. No-one is so simple as to present only one image, but  
your Demeanor represents how people /generally/ see you.

Nature and      
Demeanor can, but do not have to, be the same; indeed, they rarely are. 
    

A vampire's disciplines are inherited in their blood. Normally, they can only   
learn clan disciplines. In order to learn a level of a non-clan discipline, a   
vampire must be taught by someone who has that discipline at a higher level, and
has that discipline "in their blood." It also requires drinking a     
point of blood from the teacher for every level learned.

A vampire has a 
discipline in their blood (and thus can teach it) if it is a clan discipline, or
if they have it to level 5 or higher.

Teaching a discipline to another   
vampire costs the teacher 1/3 of the student's XP cost. Eg, if a Malkavian      
teaches a Gangrel Auspex 1, the Gangrel pays 10XP, and the Malkavian 3XP        
(rounding is to the nearest XP). 

See next page for IC and OOC           
restrictions.                                                                   

Caitiff have no disciplines in their blood. All disciplines (other than their   
starting disciplines) are non-clan disciplines to them. This means they cannot  
learn new disciplines without a teacher at all.

However, caitiff have    
such weak blood that learning new disciplines only requires a taste of blood    
from someone who has the discipline to a higher level - it does not require that
the teacher has the discipline as a clan discipline or to level 5, and it does  
not require that the teacher spend XP of his or her own. Caitiffs' weak blood   
makes them extremely adaptable, can learn disciplines from anyone, even each    
other.

IC restrictions:
It's worth noting that Gangrel and Tremere    
hoard their exclusive clan disciplines (Protean and Thaumaturgy) jealously, and 
more than one Caitiff has met a fatal accident merely for possessing what they  
regarded as a clan secret.
OOC restrictions:
Except in extreme cases, it  
is a core policy of this MUSH to exclude combinations of the combat disciplines 
(Celerity, Potence, and Fortitude). In particular, staff will not generally     
entertain Gangrel learning Celerity, Brujah learning Fortitude, or Nosferatu    
learning Celerity. Please accept that we have applied the same tremendous       
resistance to this on other characters and if they have it they have an         
astonishingly good reason.
                                                  

Retainers are the blood bound followers of a vampire. Such retainers are        
generally ghouls. The number of retainers is determined by the Retainer         
background. In this game, there are three different types of retainers:         
unstatted retainers, statted retainers, and played retainers. You control your  
character's statted and unstatted retainers, and they should be described fully 
in a +jnote (see +help character/jnote), preferably with names.

Unstatted
Retainers

The number of unstatted retainers available to a vampire is    
directly determined by their Retainer rank as follows:

 _Rank_ _No._
 
1 1
 2 3
 3 5
 4 9
 5 15

Unstatted retainers can be used as  
PUPPETS (see 'help PUPPETS'), in room descriptions, and in poses. All unstatted 
retainers are considered to have a 2 for all contest purposes. They cannot      
expend willpower. As a default, they can only Brawl, Evade, and Grapple in      
combat. Their CBT/DMT is 2, and their HIGH damage is 1 while their LOW damage is
0. If your RETAINERS +jnote permits, unstatted ghouls can have a generic melee  
weapon or firearm with a CBT/DMT of 2, HIGH damage of 2, and LOW damage of 1.   
(See +news combat/basics of combat.) Additionally, an unstatted retainer is     
incapacitated if it takes more than 2 levels of damage in any one scene and dies
if it takes more than 4 levels of damage. If an unstatted retainer dies, it's   
assumed that it can be replaced rather easily, subject to IC social/legal       
consequences.
                                                               

Statted Retainers:

Statted retainers are, well, retainers with stats.    
They are necessarily PUPPETS (see 'help PUPPETS'). Each is permitted to go      
through the mortal Chargen process and can be ghouled, subject to IC            
social/legal consequence, of course. Each statted retainer is basically another 
character in its own right, but it does not earn experience points and cannot   
possess background traits of its own. Statted retainers can only gain           
exceptional stats and stat increases beyond mortal Chargen basics and the       
ghouling process by way of their controlling character spending experience      
points.

A character can obtain a statted retainer by giving up permanent 
Retainer ranks. In doing this, the character gains 1 statted retainer for every 
5 unstatted retainers he or she gives up. For example, a character has Retainers
at rank 4, which entitles them to 9 unstatted retainers. If they give up        
Retainers 4 and lower it to Retainers 2, they will be losing 6 available        
unstatted retainers. In exchange, they can obtain 1 statted retainer. And yes,  
this means that one unstatted retainer is unreimbursed.

Statted retainers
can possess Weapons and basically do whatever their stats allow. However, they  
are a non-renewable resource. If a statted retainer dies, it is not easily      
replaced.

_Played Retainers_

A character can have as many PC      
retainers as staff approves or else obtains through roleplay. A player does not 
control the PC retainers of his or her character. A PC retainer is played solely
by the player of the PC retainer. However, a PC retainer can earn its own       
experience points. 
                                                         

Retcons (retroactively deciding that a scene already roleplayed never happened) 
are, in our opinion, only harmful to the story that we're all spinning together 
in the City of Angels. Yes, mistakes happen, but our feeling is that it's better
to find an in-character justification for how the role-played events happened,  
and somehow compensate anyone who unfairly lost out.

Retcons should      
always be the last resort, and if there is no alternative, please consult your  
RegArch or an Arbiter.

See also: +news theme/face the music, +news       
policies/cooperative rp, and +news policies/cheating. 
                      

 Sanguinis represents the strength of a vampire's blood. The lowest possible
Sanguinis a vampire can have is 1. A higher Sanguinis corresponds to a larger   
blood capacity and potency. The actual affect of Sanguinis on a vampire         
character is integrated in to the +blood code. (See +help ic/blood.)

 A  
vampire's Sanguinis increases inexorably as it ages. However, given the brief   
span of time that this MUSH covers, such increases of Sanguinis will -never-    
occur after character creation. That said, there may be other ways for a vampire
permanently or temporarily to increase their Sanguinis (e.g. +news              
systems/diablerie), but knowledge of such matters is guarded. Check your +news  
lores to see if your character has more knowledge of such matters.
          

Security Systems and Hacking:

Inevitably, in a world of vampires,        
intrigue, and scheming, characters will want to set up or defeat security       
systems - both physical security, and computer security. As with many other     
areas of role-play, often the character knows more (or less) about the subject  
than the player does.

The following system will be used as a basis for   
modeling all security systems break-ins and computer hacking attempts on this   
MUSH. It is a system for defeating security *systems*, not picking locks on     
front doors that aren't wired to anything. That should be handled with a simple 
negotiated contest.

Attempts to break into another players property or   
computer should be negotiated with that player - attempts to break into an NPC  
installation should be negotiated with an architect.

Essentially, trying 
to defeat a security system of any sort is a contest of skill between the       
designers of the system, and the person trying to defeat it. Various other      
factors have to be taken into consideration though, including the resources     
available to either side. The Department of Defense has a great technological   
advantage over a typical small company, and likewise a security-oriented company
has a great resource advantage over a street-thief or amateur computer hacker.  

                                                                            

All attempts to break into a security system of any sort will be modeled as a   
contest between the attacker and the designers of the system.

Two        
contests are made. The first contest determines Success or Failure. A tie       
indicates the attacker has spent some time trying but not succeeded yet, but may
try again. A failure on this contest means that the attacker can find no way in,
and may not try again by the same method.

The second contest is to see if
the attempt was detected. Success for the attacker means the attempt was        
undetected, failure means clear evidence of the attempt was left - a tie means  
evidence was left but will not be noticed unless there is some other reason to  
suspect the attempt was made.

For characters with stats, use Perception  
or Intelligence plus Security or Computer as appropriate. Where a security      
system has been designed by an NPC, values in the following ranges are          
suggested. The audit bonus applies to the second contest only. 
             

Computer Systems Skill Total Audit Bonus
Public Access System 4 to 5         
0
Academic System 4 to 7 0
Business System 3 to 5 -1 to +1
Financial   
System 6 to 8 +1 to +2
Military System 7 to 9 +2 to +4
For Government     
Systems choose Business, Financial or Military.

Physical Security Skill  
Total Audit Bonus
Private House 3 to 5 0
Small Business 4 to 6 -1 to      
+1
Large Company 5 to 7 0 to +1
Financial Institution 6 to 8 +2 to        
+3
Military Facility 7 to 10 +2 to +3
For Government Facilities choose    
Large Company, Financial or Military. 
                                      

Strategy:
The attacker may attempt to be especially careful not to leave     
evidence, and give away Advantage on the first contest, while claiming Advantage
on the second. Or they may be reckless, and claim advantage on the first        
contest, while giving away Advantage on the second.

Social               
Engineering:
Social engineering is the attempt to defeat a security system by
manipulating the people who run it, rather than the system itself. Successfully 
defeating the systems skill total with a social contest gives Advantage on the  
success contest. It has no effect on the Audit contest.

Resources:
The
party with greater Resources gets Advantage on both contests. This is to reflect
quality of equipment, ability to hire consultants etc. It may be possible to use
certain Influences in this capacity also. 
                                  

For good reason, vampires are often stylized as highly erotic and sensual       
creatures. These undead beasts, often with the appearance of the most beautiful 
of humans, subsist by way of The Kiss, a grossly pleasurable experience for both
predator and prey. Who needs the crude pleasures of mortal sex when you have the
exquisiteness of The Kiss? Plus, there are certain physical and social          
impediments to vampires attempting to partake of mortal sex.

The physical
impediments to vampire sex arise from the fact that vampires are dead, and their
only bodily fluid is blood. With males, vampires cannot achieve an erection and 
are otherwise impotent. With females, let it suffice it to say that intercourse 
will reveal their flesh to be unliving. Furthermore, vampires cannot achieve    
anything like a physical orgasm from anything other than The                    
Kiss.

Physically, an attempt by a vampire to have intercourse with a     
mortal would not only be futile, it would risk the Masquerade. To maintain a    
charade of sexual intercourse with a mortal, a female vampire would need at     
least Masquerade 3, while a male vampire would need Masquerade 4. It would,     
however, be just that: a charade. There is no Viagra for vampires. 
         

The social impediments to vampire sex are severe. Those very rare vampires who  
attempt to mimic mortal sex with other vampires are considered at best to be    
vile perverts. As blood cannot help but be exchanged in such mockeries of mortal
sex, such vampires are often branded as members of the inscrutably nefarious    
Sabbat, for what other manner of beast would engage in such                     
perversions?

As to vampires who attempt mortal sex with mortals beyond   
the immediate demands of a hunt, such behavior is considered to be a milder     
perversion. But while a milder perversion, such conduct would be seen as an     
unnecessary affront to the Masquerade.

Given the prevalence of vampires  
with obfuscate and perhaps other methods of divination, vampires who attempt to 
bypass their physical limitations to pursue the lesser pleasures of mortal sex  
can reasonably expect to be discovered at some point. The social consequences   
could be severe. Accordingly, if you are interested in role-playing sexual      
intercourse, you are advised to play a mortal or ghoul. 
                    

Here at LA: A House Divided, it is policy that players need to respect social   
and mental attributes every bit as much as they respect physical attributes.    
Social actions should generally be resolved by roleplaying -- but oftentimes    
there will arise situations where one player or another feels slighted.         
Example:

 Vinnie the Ventrue, Primogen of the Known Universe, walks into 
Elysium and gets into a shouting match with Bob the Bootlickin' Brujah. Vinnie  
has greater status, greater age, and also has Intimidation 4 -- making him one  
of the scariest people in the city. Vinnie's player OOCly informs Bob's player  
of these facts, and suggests that Bob might back down. A respectful discussion  
pursuant to the Cooperative RP policy ensues. It's absolutely fine to page the  
other person and work out whether it is going to work or not without a +contest.
But Bob does not have the right to simply say "My character just wouldn't  
back down." He can present arguments why Bob wouldn't back down, such as   
nature or Willpower, or a well-placed status/ignore, but in the end it might be 
easier to work these into a +contest as advantages. Work with other players to  
find ways to resolve disagreements and conflict. We ask a lot of our players in 
term of maturity and patience. Work to meet those standards.
 This applies   
with particular poignancy to the status system. Your character's status is a    
stat, and it matters. If someone with a higher status confronts you, you need to
recognize that and roleplay it. Or be willing to suffer the consequences for    
flouting the status rules that dominate vampire society. Make liberal use of    
+status/ignore, if you want to be a rebel. But always remember that IC actions  
have IC consequences, and you can't simply backtalk to an Elder and think you'll
get away with it.

(continued)                                            

A couple of ground rules, to help you work things out:

* You can't make  
anyone do anything directly opposed to their Nature with a social contest.      
Getting that Caregiver to cut off the fingers of the little kid is going to take
Dominate. Or IC extortion sufficient to convince the character to act.          
Intimidation or Leadership simply won't cut it.

* If someone is          
attempting to persuade you to do something very in tune with your Nature, you   
should either do it without calling for a contest, or give the challenger       
advantage.

* The final decision for whether a +contest is required is a  
decision for the target of the action (the intimdation, the swindle, the fast   
talk, or the command). But at the same time, if you feel that a target is being 
unreasonable and is violating the spirit of Cooperative RP, follow the          
procedures set forth in +news policies/arbitration. Get a second opinion from   
someone else on the grid.

Remember, characters who have invested a great 
deal in social stats have done so by forgoing the ability to simply bust heads. 
They have skills as well... but they are more subtle. They should not have their
character concepts rendered impotent by a stubborn, unyielding refusal to play  
fair.                                                                           

STANDING BASICS - In General

 Standing is an out-of-character            
("OOC") attribute that represents a measure of how much territorial   
control a vampire is recognized to have in Los Angeles. Standing reflects       
territorial power in contrast to the social stature indicated by Camarilla      
Status and Anarch Reputation. However, Standing is directly related to Status   
and Reputation. Standing is the foundation of Status and Reputation. Higher     
standing equates to a greater ability to influence the Status and Reputation of 
others. (See '+news systems/status' for more details.)
 Standing exists in   
Los Angeles on a 7-point scale. Standing 0 to 4 reflect the territorial power of
dispossessed childer (0) up to mighty Primogen and anarch Warlords (3-4), who   
all control territory less than the size of a Camarilla domain. Standing 5 to 7 
reflect the power of Princes, who each control at least one full-sized domain.  
(See '+news Government/standing levels' for more details.)                      

STANDING BASICS - In Application

 As a guideline, any Camarilla vampire  
with Standing 5+ may call upon the full prerogatives and responsibilities of the
Camarilla Traditions as to all vampires in their territory. (See '+news         
undead/traditions' for more details.) As for Camarilla vampires with Standing 2 
to 4, they commonly wield authority pursuant to the Tradition of Domain over    
those within their territory. Those vampires with Standing 0 to 1 have no real  
territorial power of their own. In contrast, anarch vampires who manage to      
control any manner of territory (e.g. anarchs with Standing 2+) make their own  
rules.
 A vampire exerting authority within his or her territory can expect  
to predicate much of this authority on personal power and influences. As a      
practical manner, a landholder's authority extends to anyone within the         
territory over whom the landholder can claim Social Advantage. (See '+news      
systems/status' for more details.) Without the ability to claim Social          
Advantage, the vampire may only call upon personal power and influence to coerce
recognition of his or her authority. This applies equally to law-abiding        
Camarilla vampires and anarchs. Thus the rule: if your character is caught      
ignoring the command or edict of a landholder within his or her territory and if
this landholder has Social Advantage over your character, then you must formally
ignore the landholder's social trait which gives him or her the Social          
Advantage. (See '+help ic/status' for details.)                                 

ACQUIRING STANDING - In General and Taking Territory Forcibly

 To acquire
Standing, you must acquire recognized control over territorial grids represented
by our +map code. (See '+help ic/map' for details.) However, all of such        
territory is presently recognized as being controlled by existing vampires,     
whether a Prince directly, a vampire for a Prince, or an anarch leader for      
itself. This recognition of control (and means of transferring it) are reflected
in our +domain code. (See '+help ic/domain' for details.) Recognition is the    
essential aspect of having control of territory for Standing purposes, and a    
vampire retains this recognitions until it loses it, surrenders it, or gives it 
up. This means that anyone wanting to increase their standing in Los Angeles    
generally must (a) take additional territory forcibly, (b) acquire the territory
by coercion, or (c) acquire the territory by persuasion.
 Taking territory   
forcibly is simple, in theory - just kill or permanently torpor the vampire who 
controls the territory and then claim it. However, this is problematic in       
practice. The right of destruction is jealously guarded by the eight Camarilla  
Princes of Greater Los Angeles, and permanent torpor is often construed by the  
Princes to be destruction. Therefore, taking territory by killing or permanently
torporing the controlling vampire is a method upon which only Princes and       
anarchs can rely. Fortunately for Greater Los Angeles, the Princes have reached 
an agreement as to where they can each exercise their rights of destructions.   
See '+news undead/treaty' for details.                                          

ACQUIRING STANDING - Through Coercion

 Acquiring territory through       
coercion includes doing everything but killing or permanently torporing the     
landholder in order to 'convince' them that relinquishing the territory is 'an  
offer they cannot refuse.' Beating the landholder into submission repeatedly;   
making their existence miserable through use of influences; blackmail; threats; 
et cetera - the means and methods are limited only by the imagination. The one  
commonality is that the landholder is ultimately forced into a situation where  
they have no reasonable choice but to acquiesce to the usurping vampire.
    
Princes are unique in having a traditional right to destroy any vampire who     
resists their attempts of coercion within their Domain. This power also         
complicates attempts to coerce territory from landholders who have received     
their territory directly from a Prince. The interested Prince may not take well 
to those who usurp control over territory from one to whom they have entrusted  
it. Nonetheless, as long as the usurper appears to be a loyal subject to the    
interested Prince and is not already a powerful Primogen or Overseer (e.g.      
Standing 4), the Prince will likely not object to such territorial              
acquisition.
 Acquiring territory through coercion relies heavily upon       
cooperative role-play. (See '+news policies/cooperative rp' for more details.)  
If negotiations break down in this regard, players should refer to '+news       
systems/arbitration.' The character of a player who fails to negotiate a        
coercion attempt in good-faith will be presumed to lose in the matter.          

ACQUIRING STANDING - Through Persuasion and Keeping Territory

 Acquiring 
territory through persuasion is the most common means of increasing Standing.   
This includes convincing a Prince that it is worth his or her effort to grant   
you territory. You can do the same with a powerful Primogen or Overseer who is  
looking for a trustworthy subordinate and who has excess territory to provide   
you. Boons and other favors can be used to bargain away territory from those who
have it, too. The hallmark of persuasive acquisition is that the landholder     
gives up some of their territory voluntarily, usually for some form of          
consideration. Princes will typically rubberstamp transfers of territory in this
context so long as the acquiring landholder is a subject of the Prince and does 
not already have Standing 4.
 Once you acquire territory using any of these  
methods, the territory remains yours until another vampire acquires it from you.
This is true even if you acquired the territory through persuasion from a       
Prince. To reclaim the territory, even the Prince will have to employ one of    
these methods. Of course, the Prince has the right of destruction.
 Please   
remember that controlling territory is subject to our activity requirements set 
forth in '+news policies/activity'. As permitted by this policy and subject to  
staff discretion, inactive characters who do not respond to an acquisition      
attempt in a timely manner may be presumed to lose their territory by any of the
methods referenced in this file.                                                

Status, Reputation, and Clan Prestige are relative social traits that       
arbiter who can claim social advantage in social contests. See +news            
systems/social contests. These social traits only have meaning in relationship  
to other characters with the same social traits. For example, if you have a     
higher Status than a vampire opponent with Status, then you may claim social    
advantage in a social contest. This is known as 'pulling rank'. The target may  
ignore this, but this is considered a snub to the Status of the other vampire,  
which may have unpleasant results.

Of course, anarchs with Reputation    
care nothing of Status. They care just about Reputation. And the Clan Prestige  
complicates the social advantage calculus.
                                  

Status and Reputation are polar opposites of the same trait, and this trait     
functions simultaneously with Clan Prestige. It's entirely possible that you can
pull Status rank on someone who pulls Clan Prestige rank on you. You can each   
claim advantage (which would cancel each other out), and you can each choose to 
ignore the status item in question (which cancels the other person's claim to   
advantage).

Humans don't know about Status, Reputation, or Clan Prestige,
so they are not affected by it. Ghouls generally have no Status of their own,   
being considered property. Any societal power they enjoy comes from their       
master's clout, and any praise or criticism of their behavior usually falls upon
the master as well.

Our system of Status, Reputation, and Clan Prestige  
is implemented with our +status and +prestige code as set forth in +help        
ic/status.

For further discussion, see +news government/social           
status.
                                                                     

The sun is the bane of vampires, moreso than any other thing in the world.      
Sunlight has two effects on vampires. The first, and most dramatic, is that     
sunlight burns a vampire much faster, and much more thoroughly, than it burns   
humans. In seconds, a vampire can be reduced to a smoking pile of ash. A narrow 
beam of sunlight can burn off a hand or limb.
 The second effect is that     
during the daytime, vampires sleep. The call of the daytime slumber is nigh     
irresistable, and only with great effort can vampire remain conscious into the  
later morning. What follows are the systems for these two effects.              

DAMAGE FROM SUNLIGHT:
Sunlight does damage based on two factors: intensity   
and exposure. In game combat terms, the intensity is the DMT, while the Exposure
determines the # of points of damage inflicted. The various intensities are as  
follows:

Indirect sunlight, sun is still over the horizon: DMT           
4
Indirect sunlight, sun clearing the horizon: DMT 5
Direct Sunlight: DMT 
8

Exposures inflict damage as follows:

Narrow beam (hand): High   
1A, Low 1A
Ray of light (limb): High 2A, low 1A
Window-sized exposure     
(half body): High 3A, low 2A
Full exposure: High 5A, Low: 3A

* Heavy  
clothing covering your whole body will give you advantage against the DMT of    
-indirect- sunlight only. Clothing does nothing against direct sunlight.
*   
Remember that the damage-prevention aspect of Fortitude is halved (rounded up)  
when dealing with aggravated damage.
* Frenzy checks for sunlight are        
particularly nasty. The first round of exposure, you check for frenzy for       
exposure, regardless of whether you take damage or not. Only one check per scene
is necessary. If you continue to take damage for subsequent rounds, one more    
check for *taking damage* is required.                                          

DAYTIME SLUMBER:
Almost all vampires have the ability to stay awake until the
actual moment of dawn. Staying awake beyond that point requires more effort. The
basic system is simple, and takes place in fifteen minute increments. Staying   
awake for the first fifteen minutes after dawn requires a check of WP vs (2 x   
your number of Beast Traits). The second fifteen minutes requires a check of WP 
vs (2 x Beast Traits)+1. The third fifteen minutes, (2 x Beast Traits)+2, then  
+3, +4, and so on. You may spend WP for advantage on this contest. As soon as   
you fail... you fall asleep.

Waking up during the day is impossible      
without some stimulus. If there is sufficient stimulus, a vampire may attempt to
awaken with a contest of WP vs (2 x # of Beast Traits)+2. Vampires who are      
awakened during the day give away advantage on all contests.                    

Tests (or "contests"):

When a test is required to resolve a    
situation, the following sequence of events is followed:

1) The player   
initiating the challenge announces the nature of the test, and his 'acting      
level'. The 'acting level' is usually the total of an appropriate Attribute and 
Ability, but can be announced as lower than the true value, i.e. the challenger 
can withhold some of his/her total.
E.g: "Challenge: I'm trying to      
intimidate you by smashing this table, Strength plus Intimidate at              
7"

2) The defender can either yield to the challenger, or announce a
'defending value'. Again, this is normally the total of an appropriate Attribute
and Ability, but the defender can also choose to withhold some of the total.    
Willpower is another common defending value (versus Dominate, Presence, etc.).  
Note that the defender has the advantage of knowing the challengers total before
declaring his/her own.
E.g. "I'm not so easily intimidated, Willpower at
6".

At this point, the players are encouraged just to roleplay on   
the basis of the declared numbers. But if a definitive test is required, we     
proceed to step three
                                                       

3) The challenge is resolved on the basis of the declared numbers using the     
+contest command. +contest works something like this..
Eg:
 > +contest 
8 vs 6
 Challenger total is 8, defender total is 6... Challenger             
wins.

It operates roughly like this..

 o If the totals are within 
one point of each other, there is an even
 chance of either winning, or of a 
tie.
 o If the totals are more than three points apart, the player with      
the
 higher total is considered to win automatically.
 o There is roughly 
a 2/3 chance of the higher number winning if there
 are two or three points  
separating the score.

A win for the challenger means the challenge was   
successfully completed as the challenger specified (Eg, in the example above,   
the defender was intimidated, and will back down), a tie means that the         
challenge was not successfully completed (but in some cases another attempt may 
be allowed), while a win for the defender means that some advantage accrues to  
the defender (Eg, in the case above, the defender might retain composure enough 
to unnerve the challenger). 
                                                

Which Attributes and Abilities do we use to contest?

Which attribute and 
ability you use is generally up to you, as long as its appropriate to the method
you're choosing. For example, to persuade someone to stand aside and let you    
pass you might try:

Strength+Intimidate - to push them aside,            
intimidating them with strength
Charisma+Leadership - ordering them          
aside..

If your opponent doesn't agree your choice of Attribute and      
Ability are appropriate, briefly discuss what statistics to use. If no agreement
can be reached, you may ask someone to arbitrate (see +news                     
policies/arbitration). 
                                                     

Some examples:

Michael is trying to sneak past George without being seen.
George isn't paying much attention. Michael roleplays starting to sneak past,   
then announces (via page, not ICly) "Challenge: I'm trying to sneak past   
you. Dex plus Stealth at 6". George responds, "Perception plus        
Alertness at 5". George decides he wants to go to a +contest. Michael wins 
the test, and George doesn't notice him sneaking past. If George had won, he    
would have spotted Michael. If there had been a tie, Michael didn't get past,   
but didn't get spotted.

Michael is trying to sneak back past again, but  
the guard has been changed, and Simon is now there. Michael announces his       
challenge as before, but this time the response is "Perception plus Stealth
at nine" (Simon is good at sneaking around, so can use his Stealth skill   
with Perception to spot people sneaking around). This time, Simon is three      
points better than Michael, so he is likely to win. Had he been 4 points better,
he would have spotted Michael automatically. 
                               

Advantage:

In some circumstances, an even contest may not be appropriate.
For example, if a lone player attempts to intimidate one who is surrounded by   
four allies. In these situations, the players may agree that one of them is at  
an advantage. Advantage is worth a bonus to your total, and is calculated for   
you by +contest. Only one character can ever have advantage in a +contest;      
multiple advantages may be used only to cancel out your opponent's claims to    
advantage.
(See: +help character/contest, +news faq/advantage)

If the 
players cannot agree on advantage, they may ask other nearby players or a       
narrator to arbitrate (see +news policies/arbitration). 
                    

Thaumaturgy is an unusual discipline in that it itself does not convey any      
powers other than access to sub-disciplines called 'Paths'. (+listinfo paths)   
One may never possess a Path at a level greater than one's score in             
Thaumaturgy.
 Typically, clans with access to Thaumaturgy have its skill     
level bound to a specific path. For example, Clan Tremere has Thaumaturgy bound 
to Path of Blood. Mortal sorcerers may have it bound to Path of Sorcery or Path 
of Summoning, depending on the source of their power. It is rumored some other  
clans may have other power sources that raise in conjunction with their         
Thaumaturgy skills.
 Thaumaturgy also provides access to rituals. Rituals are
lasting magical bindings that typically require material components and         
significant investment of time and labor to achieve. Rituals also may not be    
learned at a level exceeding the ritualist's Thaumaturgy rating, unless         
employing special accoutrements. Rituals also often have dependencies on certain
paths, as these are implicitly tapped in the ritual's casting.
 Paths are not
necessarily available to all clans or Thaumaturges.                             

When a vampire bites a mortal, they are overwhelmed with pleasure. As long as   
the vampire in question is careful, they will usually not remember the bite,    
only the intense pleasure it caused.. Also, a mortal will not be able to pull   
away from the bite without expending a willpower point. And only a mortal very  
experienced in being fed from would recognize the feelings associated with the  
Kiss.

Finally, a vampire may heal a feeding wound that it caused by      
licking it, leaving no trace of the bite. 
                                  

Torpor is a state, akin to coma in humans, which vampires enter when they are   
injured beyond their ability to recover, or when they do not have enough blood  
in their system to awaken from the day's sleep.

There are essentially two
types of torpor: voluntary, and involuntary. The difference is simple. In       
involuntary torpor, the vampire is incapacitated, or suffering from an          
aggravated wound. (See also: +news systems/damage and healing.) Voluntary torpor
includes a vampire who has entered the state willingly (which can be done at    
will by any vampire with Vampire Lore 3 or higher) or who has entered torpor as 
a result of insufficient blood.
                                             

Voluntary Torpor:

'Voluntary' torpor is so-called because it is almost   
impossible for a vampire to fall into it accidentally. With no blood, the       
vampire will eventually hunger frenzy - only a deliberate effort of will is     
likely to hold off the Beast until sunrise claims the vampire in                
sleep.

To awake from voluntary torpor, a vampire must be fed blood. It   
need not be vitae. It is usually advisable to feed such a vampire sufficient    
blood to avoid frenzy when they wake.

Because of the nature of voluntary 
torpor, players who let their character slip into it accidentally are advised   
that staff will typically run a hunger frenzy scene for the character if asked  
to reset the torpor status. 
                                                

Involuntary Torpor:

Involuntary torpor can arise in a number of ways:    
deliberate infliction of damage till no blood remains, failure to hunt          
sufficiently to allow an aggravated wound to heal, or slipping off for the day  
with insufficient blood to heal your wounds (see +news                          
systems/damage).

To awake from involuntary torpor, a vampire must be fed 
the vitae of a vampire of higher Sanguinis than themselves. A single point will 
suffice to break the torpor, but it is advisable to feed the vampire sufficient 
blood (of any sort) to avoid hunger frenzy when they wake.

Players are   
warned that if a character with aggravated wounds slips into torpor because they
have bad luck hunting, or forget to hunt - the torpor will stand. Involuntary   
torpor is one of the long-term side effects of aggravated wounds. 
          

Security Cameras

"Just look at the *tapes*!" he cried,         
"the security tapes from the Elysium cameras will show I've been           
wronged!"

Er - sorry, but - NO!

Some notes about security    
cameras, regardless of Security/Influence/Resources:

1. Security cameras 
will never have useful audio in monitoring environments unless specifically and 
carefully prepared with both local microphones and controlled positioning of    
participants (each time) in the conversation. Random encounter audio will NEVER 
be intelligible.

2. Tapes of past events will essentially be lost after  
24 hours. Either erased wholesale or effectively labor-restrictive in           
un-archiving. These are just not typically handled well. An extremely expensive 
system may allow for a poor-quality time-indexed visual-only image to pull up an
event if a specific span of time is requested.

3. Cameras designed to    
counter Obfuscate in real-time suffer a number of possible difficulties, from   
monitoring folk being uncertain of what is normal and not, to a very real IC    
conspiracy by Clan Nosferatu to infiltrate security systems manufacturers and   
introduce intentional defects.

4. (And most importantly) this world has a
theme of Darkness and fear and uncertainty are key elements. Security is not    
something to be relied upon. Insecurity is theme-appropriate, and an            
understanding as to the unreliability of such monitoring helps us promote the   
unnerving feeling of detachment.                                                

Willpower:

Willpower points may be spent to affect the outcome of a      
challenge. Note that these points only come back at the rate of approximately   
one point per day, however spending these points reduces your temporary         
Willpower trait - making it harder to resist persuasion, intimidation,          
etc.

Willpower points can be spent in the following ways:

1) If   
your character has elected to withhold his or her full pool of available points 
from a contest, you may expend a willpower point to elect to use your           
character's full pool after other players have revealed totals that they are    
going to use in the contest. This must occur before the contest. No new         
circumstances or modifiers that were not originally declared can be used. This  
use is to represent a contestant who has been overconfident suddenly realizing  
how strong his or her opposition is, and throwing everything into the           
fray.

2) Spending a willpower point will give you Advantage, or cancel   
your opponents Advantage. You may spend only one point in this manner in any    
single contest.

3) As otherwise expressly allowed by a particular power  
(+help char/power) or other role-play system referenced in the +news            
files.

When you spend willpower points on a willpower roll, you deduct   
the points after you determine your total for the challenge.

Code is in  
place to allow expending and recovering willpower points. (See +help            
ic/willpower)