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

MASTER OF ELYSIUM
In essence a combination master of ceremonies and groundskeeper, the Master of Elysium
is responsible for maintaining a city’s Elysium, ensuring its readiness for court or other offi cial
functions, cleaning up afterward and making sure that word of specifi c Elysium-related events
reaches those who must attend. The Master of Elysium is also responsible for enforcing the
custom of nonviolence at such gatherings, and he often works hand-in-hand with the Sheriff
or Hounds for such purposes. In many cities, the duties of Master of Elysium fall on the Seneschal
or Herald. In particularly large cities, more than one Master of Elysium exists, perhaps
even one for each declared Elysium.
SUBINFEUDATION
While the feudal model upon which Kindred society is based has its roots in similar historical
mortal practices, only the most oblivious Kindred would refuse to acknowledge that
governmental feudalism is all but dead in the world of mortal politics. Some of the realities that
brought feudalism to an end in the mortal world plague the Kindred world. Unlike many mortal
governments, however, the Kindred have found a way to work around such problems.
Quite simply, cities are too big, populaces too large, and minutiae too overwhelming for a
single Prince to truly rule an entire domain. Only in the smallest communities can a solitary
Prince hope to lay sweeping claim to all of a domain. As a result, the process of domain subinfeudation
occurs, which is the breaking down and parceling out of different sub-domains,
each of which becomes the responsibility of a “sub-Prince” who answers to the true Prince’s
ultimate authority. Such fi gures of authority are known as Regents, and their sub-domains
are known as tenurial domains.
For all intents and purposes, a Regent is a Prince in everything but name, with a single,
signifi cant difference. The Regent has no praxis in his tenurial domain, no claimed “right to
rule.” Rather, a Regent is awarded his position by the Prince herself, who can unmake a Regent
just as easily as she made him. Appointment to a Regency is almost always accompanied by a
formal oath of subservience, particularly among the Ventrue and in domains with a powerful
presence of the more traditional covenants such as the Invictus or Lancea Sanctum. Even among
more “progressive” clans and covenants, Regencies do not come lightly, and the wise Prince
ensures loyalty through some vow, contract or other defi ned agreement.
How much power a Regent has over a tenurial domain depends on the power of the city’s
Prince and why the Prince assigns the domain in the fi rst place. One of the benefi ts of the
Regency is the ability to set one’s own rules, as long as they also enforce the Prince’s dictates.
Of course, some Princes specifi cally restrict the actions of their Regents (such as, “You may not
designate an area Elysium” or “Only the true Prince may grant the right to Embrace”), but the
title itself comes with near autonomy unless the Prince specifi es otherwise.
Regents come in all varieties. Some are themselves loyal or respected elders, gifted with
certain domains in which the Prince acknowledges their status, infl uence or expertise. Prisci
and Harpies are prime examples of candidates for this sort of Regency, but one does not
necessarily beget the other. Other Regents are upraised ancillae or even neonates who are
tasked with the upkeep and maintenance of certain tenurial domains (whether as reward,
opportunity, trial or punishment…). Some Regents are important fi gures among their own
clans or covenants, granted tenurial domains to refl ect that status much as a Church bishop
or archbishop might have been granted political territory in mortal history. Deposed Princes
who haven’t been sent to their Final Deaths upon a new Prince’s claim of praxis often fi nd
themselves made Regents, either to prove their loyalty to the new regime or so the new Prince
can keep an eye on them. Granted, these last instances are rare.
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chapter one: society of the damned