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

chapter one: society plots of the • confl damned icts
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encounter a situation in which he can make a lot of money but only if he abases himself to
another person, or in which he can humiliate a rival but at great expense to himself.
• Kindred vs. the Beast: Vampires cannot avoid this confl ict, and they never know when
it might erupt. Storytellers can exacerbate the confl ict with the Beast by creating situations
where a character must resist frenzy, Rötschreck or Wassail to achieve their goal, or in which
surrender to the Beast could destroy something (or someone) the character holds dear. In
the longer term, the struggle to retain or recover Humanity — maybe even to seek Golconda
— can form the basis of an entire chronicle.
• Kindred vs. Kindred: Individual Kindred may oppose each other because of clashing
ambitions, competition for hunting grounds, moral differences, or because they just don’t like
each other. We’ve already given several examples of reasons why characters within a coterie
might disagree and need to resolve differences.
• Weak vs. Strong: Differences in status and power can drive confl ict between Kindred.
Younger Kindred fear and envy the power of their elders. Unaligned Kindred with more attitude
than experience chafe at the rule of the Prince, Primogen, covenants and clan leaders.
On the other hand, older Kindred fear their resentful childer — but what can they do? If they
give away any of their own power and infl uence, their rivals might gain an edge. The powerful
also stick together out of conviction that their childer lack the prudence that comes with
experience and could endanger the Masquerade if they were not ruled with a fi rm hand.
• Clan vs. Clan: Each of the clans has its own culture, interests and viewpoint that give
them grounds to disagree as groups. The Ventrue tend to think they should be in charge;
other Kindred often disagree. The unnerving nature of the Nosferatu frequently makes them
unwelcome in polite society; they seek to claim the power and status they feel they deserve. All
too often, though, the confl ict between clans within a city grows from some personal slight
that one clan member offered another. Both clans close ranks out of pride, the members of
one clan demanding an apology and the other clan refusing to knuckle under.
• Covenant vs. Covenant: Each covenant espouses a particular ideology of how vampires
should organize and comport themselves, from the strict hierarchy and formality of the Invictus
to the modern populism of the Carthians. Believing that you are right usually involves
believing that people who disagree with you are wrong, so that gives any covenant grounds for
confl ict with any other covenant. Any alliance between covenants is most likely temporary, at
least as Kindred reckon such things, but a covenant that shows too much hostility could unite
the other covenants in a coalition against it. Within covenants, confl ict can arise between
different interpretations of the covenant’s doctrines and practices. Most obviously, some
covenant members might be more willing to compromise with other Kindred, while other
members demand strict adherence to ideology.
• Clan vs. Covenant: Although Kindred of any clan might join any covenant, each clan
favors some covenants over others. The leaders of a clan and covenant within a city might
oppose each other, and drag their followers into confl ict. That becomes awkward for any
character who falls within both groups. You can build a confl ict between any other factions
or centers of power, too: Prince vs. clan, covenant vs. Primogen, and so on.
• Individual vs. Society: Kindred society, like mortal society, has its rules. Some rules, like
the Traditions or the prerogatives of sires and Princes, are explicitly stated. Some are not.
Even the Carthians, who deny the traditional primacy of Princes, and the unaligned, who
deny any authority beyond their own coterie leaders or even themselves, follow their own
standards of conduct. Anyone who challenges the rules of his society, be it Kindred, kine,
covenant or clan, gets into trouble with the people who believe in those rules and have a stake
in enforcing them. Kindred who endanger the Masquerade by letting mortal associates know