Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

egions and territories • security
covers such violations naturally — people expect odd behavior from meth-heads, for instance
— but wise Princes and Sheriffs have eyes and ears in the Rack at all times. These agents watch
for any breaches to stop them before they occur, or move swiftly to cover them up.
FEEDING GROUNDS
As rewards for service, or bribes to those whose power the Prince wishes to either exploit or
mitigate, many Princes grant portions of their city to other Kindred. In these territories, only
the “landholder” is permitted to hunt. She may, of course, grant permission to hunt to anyone
she chooses, but those who poach in her territory are considered criminals. Most Princes
demand that any such lawbreakers be brought before them, but some permit a landowner to
levy her own punishment. Needless to say, this is rarely a good thing for the poachers.
Hunting rights over a particular region do not necessarily convey any additional political
power. In practical terms, however, many Kindred parlay control over territory into a web of
substantial infl uence. Obviously, if a vampire holds title to an unimportant area, there’s not
much he can do with it. On the other hand, a Kindred who holds the rights to a portion
of the Rack, or an area of town where many vampires make their havens, has considerable
infl uence. She can demand favors or tasks in exchange for permission to feed in her territory,
and many Kindred agree if the price is worth the privilege.
SECURITY
Given the precarious nature of the Kindred in the scope of the World of Darkness, the issue
of security is paramount. While the tacit arrangement among all Kindred addresses some of
this concern, a great deal more remains. After all, no such arrangement, tacit or otherwise,
exists between the Kindred and the natural world around them. Indeed, it can be said that
the greatest threats to the security of the Damned come not from the Danse Macabre, but
from the realms of the ordinary, the routine and the mundane.
THE DAMNABLE HUNT
As powerful as they are, the Kindred play a most dangerous game. It is their lot to hunt
among the kine, to prey on and feed from the mortal world. Yet they must also realize that
they are not always as wolves among a fl ock of sheep, but are often as jackals among a pack
of wild dogs. The individual dog is usually no match for the scavenging jackal, but should
the entire pack turn its attentions toward the predator in its midst…
Such is the case with the Kindred among the kine. If the eye of Man was to turn its baleful
stare upon the monsters skulking in the shadows, the resulting pogrom would very likely
wipe the Damned from the face of the Earth. Therefore, the most powerful assets in Kindred
hands are the complementary tools known as ignorance and belief. These weapons do more
to keep vampires safe than any combination of unholy powers ever could.
In the world of the kine, ignorance truly is bliss. In the world of the Kindred, it is power.
The bid to keep humanity ignorant of vampire existence is known as the First Tradition,
the Masquerade. The Kindred condition itself mandates that this must be the single most
important goal of the race, lest discovery shatter the existence of mortal and Kindred alike.
Whoever created vampires clearly intended for the Damned to be a part of the world, but that
entity also clearly intended for them to remain forever separate from those upon whom they
prey. Such is the nature of the Requiem. And so, each scion of the Kindred line endeavors
to make sure that mortal ignorance remains a top priority of unlife.
The fl ip side of this, and the weapon that helps the Kindred ensure continued ignorance, is
belief and the nature thereof. Ironically, it was belief that nearly spelled doom for the Kindred
during the burning times of the Inquisition. Yet the Age of Reason (and the subsequent Indus-
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