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

chapter one: society chronicle of the outline
damned 313
story, the characters may join the ancilla in seeking ways to undercut the Prince’s clique
and gain power at its expense. Or other factions of players might try to set her up against
the Prince directly — or seek to gain favor with the Prince by revealing her subversive
ways. Eventually, it becomes clear that the ancilla wants to become Prince herself, and
promises her fellow conspirators that her new regime will be far more humane than that
of the current Prince.
In this phase, the major choice facing the characters is whether to join the ancilla’s conspiracy,
denounce her, work both sides or back away and try to avoid the confl ict. Becoming
a revolutionary sounds more heroic, but as Storyteller, your job is not to force the characters
in a particular direction, merely to present them with choices.
If enough of the characters denounce the ancilla, she goes into hiding and the building
revolution is quelled… for the moment. The Prince rewards those characters who were loyal
with hunting territories, minor titles and other privileges. Of course, they also gain a reputation
as snitches and toadies, and they keep their new privileges only as long as they continue to
please the Prince. The ancilla continues her agitation from hiding, and perhaps the revolution
eventually comes anyway. The characters just happen to be on the other side.
If the characters join forces with the ancilla, they face the challenge of lining up support
from other Kindred who might feel dissatisfi ed with the current regime. They might fi nd,
however, that other Kindred want more than a promise of better leadership. Everyone says
they want some more immediate reward or guarantee before they risk their status, infl uence
and possibly their unlives on a coup. These characters must do a series of favors for other
Kindred in the city. Most of these favors have nothing to do with political reform and may
involve the characters in sleazy dealings. One potential ally, for instance, might want the
characters to help him enslave a prominent mortal bureaucrat or businessman. Another
might want the characters to sabotage the plans of her rival. They both want assurances of
more favors in the future. They might even insist on oaths to that effect, backed up by curses
or Vinculums if the characters or their ancilla patron default on their word.
At this point you might want to assign Narration staff to keep track of the different factions
and their webs of intrigue. If it’s possible, separate the tasks of adjudicating the supporters,
the revolutionaries and the in-betweens to different staff members so you can concentrate
on running the story as a whole.
Revolution!
The climax of the story’s middle phase comes with the revolution against the Prince. Here,
you may have already decided that the revolution succeeds whether the characters join it or
fi ght it (or you may leave it entirely up to the actions of the characters to decide the fate of
the city). Since the revolution involves most of the other Kindred in the city, you can justify
its success through the deeds of other characters. Of course, it’s best from a dramatic point
of view if the characters play some vital role in the coup’s success, whether it’s a lightning
raid to capture the Prince or a dangerous negotiation to secure the backing of a powerful
sorcerer. Even if the characters defend the Prince, the ancilla generously offers them a chance
to redeem themselves in the new order. It need not even come to a direct confl ict. Many
Kindred seek to avoid actual physical confrontations. It might be a matter of pulling together
enough political muscle with the city’s elders to force the Prince from power.
A great deal of the outcome — indeed, the entire outcome — rests on what the characters
decide to do on these critical nights. The Prince’s power structure might be able to weather
the storm and send the revolutionaries packing (or at least shame them out of the political
game). It might even happen that both sides wipe each other out, politically if not literally,
and a third group assumes power.