Category:Vampire Backgrounds

Domain
Domain is physical territory, almost always within a town or city, to which your character controls access for the purpose of feeding. She can't keep the living inhabitants from going about their business, but she can keep watch herself. She can also have allies or servants specifically look for unfamiliar vampires and alert her when they find some. Domain refers specifically to the land and properties on it, as opposed to the people who may dwell there (which is the emphasis of Herd). Domain plays an important part in Cainite society - vampires who lack significant domain seldom earn respect - but it isn't an automatic entitlement to status among Cainites.

Each level of Domain reduces the difficulty of feeding checks by one for your character and those whom the character allows in. It also adds to your starting (not maximum) blood pool. If you use the domain security option, each dot of domain security raises the difficulty of feeding checks by one for uninvited vampires.

• A family home or a farm and its outlying properties - enough for a basic haven. •• A church or other large structure, a pier and adjacent warehouse or a bridge and a ford - some place with ready but easily controllable access to the outside world. ••• A city block or the buildings around a country crossroad - some place with more opportunities for concealment but less through security. •••• A labyrinth, network of cisterns, the estates on a hill overlooking a town or the inns and watch posts on each side of a mountain pass - a place with both prospects and security. ••••• A ghetto district, self-sustaining border garrison or multi-family farm holding.

As noted previously, characters in a coterie can share their domain resources for better results. Six to eight dots secure of all of a small town as domain. Ten to 15 dots secure an important but not huge trading destination or center of pilgrimage. A city such as Rome (let alone Cairo or Baghdad) would require many hundreds of Domain points.

Generation
Generation measures the number of vampires in a direct line between the character and Caine, the First Vampire. Most new vampires in the Dark Medieval era are of the 12th generation, and having a lower generation than that means that an elder (or a successful diablerist) chose the character as a childe for reasons of his, her or its own.

• 11th generation. Blood pool of 12, can spend 1 blood point per turn, Trait maximum of 5. •• 10th generation. Blood pool of 13, can spend 1 blood point per turn, Trait maximum of 5. ••• 9th generation. Blood pool of 14, can spend 2 blood points per turn, Trait maximum of 5. •••• 8th generation. Blood pool of 15, can spend 3 blood points per turn, Trait maximum of 5. ••••• 7th generation. Blood pool of 20, can spend 4 blood points per turn, Trait maximum of 6.

Herd
Herd is the deliberately derogatory term among Cainites for mortals who readily let the character (and vampires that she allows to join in) drink their blood. Motives for this submission range widely, from believers who are convinced that the character is a dark angel granted divine authority over them to ambitious schemers who regard the humiliation and fatige as the prince of admission to the vampire's favor for negotiation and power over rivals. It's hard to give one's herd detailed orders: They're addicts to the experience of feeding, not much use as allies or contacts (unless you also buy those Backgrounds to refer to the same individuals). They don't automatically share all their territory and goods, either. Those benefits require separate purchases of Domain and Resources.

Some common factor ties the herd together, whether it's shared membership in a monastery or chivalric order, being members of one or a few extended families, residence along a particular street given over to the practitioners of one trade or something else. Work the details out with her Storyteller, since threats to and the fortunes of your herd are great sources for stories once play begins.

Each level of Herd rating provides an automatic blood point per night your character chooses to feed, in addition to the vagaries of regular hunting.

• 3-5 reliable vessels. •• 7-10 reliable vessels. ••• 15-25 reliable vessels. •••• 30-50 reliable vessels. ••••• 75-100 reliable vessels.

Status
Status marks the character's reputation and position among Cainites. At the outset, neonates' status reflects the prestige their sire has earned and bequeathed. In areas where clan affiliation is strong, belonging to the "right" (or "wrong") clan may contribute to a character's status, and so many particular professions or mortal backgrounds, depending on the view of the Cainites around the character. Characters who have risen to become teachers or priests on their road usually have hefty status. Note that tradition provides for a certain amont of quid pro quo in accomadating the status of strangers, so that even when a character leaves the area where she arned her status and enters a place that uses other standards, at least part of her reputation travels with her. Cainite logicians spend a great deal of time on questions such as, "What does it mean to give honor on grounds one rejects?", and everyone else simply goes on about their business.

• Known: an exemplary neonate or a typical ancilla. •• Respected: one of the most remarkable neonates in the area or an ancillae of significant accomplishments. ••• Honored: An outstandingly successful ancilla or a typical elder. •••• Powerful: An elder of position as well as accomplishments, such as an advisor to the prince or a major participant in mortal society on a grand scale. ••••• Revered: A successful prince or other leader within Cainite society.