UPDATE: Vampires Exposed! Humans Fully Aware

[Mooncalf]

As you may have noticed, the vampiric secrecy level now shows humans as "fully aware". Yes, this means that the "masquerade" has ended, and humans now know vampires exist. Though I hadn't expected this to happen for a while longer, this is a major turning point in the game and story, and many things are about to change.


How did this happen?
Several things lead up to this, gradually increasing the alert level and eventually exposing vampire-kind entirely.

The most important of these things were the consequences of three chapters. First, Crow was banished. Without Crow, vampires were at far greater risk of being exposed, as the Administrator doesn't seem to have the same level of power as Crow. Next, vampires chose to selfishly absorb the shadow realm rifts in order to grow in power, which caused more to open and many undead creatures to pour out into the streets. This was the point of no return, and after this it wasn't possible to drop the alert level below a certain point, and the fragility of the vampiric secrecy was increased. Things further escalated (though very slightly) when the Sirens came out on top of the previous chapter, as many of them are of the mind that vampires could be held in check better if humans discovered their true natures.

However, the chapters merely set the stage for vampires to expose themselves in their own time, and they did just that. Some vampires worked secretly (or even openly, in some cases) to destroy the "masquerade", and this came at the same time as hunter groups began to cease hunting as vigilantly as before. This was the final nail in the coffin for the city alert level.

From a storyline perspective more and more evidence of vampires began to surface gradually over the past 2 years, and a growing number of humans started to believe in the existence of vampires. Finally, a newly turned Lionelli fledgling who had been abandoned by his careless goon of a sire was captured by police while on a frenzied rampage (which was also recorded by many people with cellphones). It wasn't long before his secret became known to everyone at the station, and then doctors, and then journalists. Unable to contain the stories flooding out onto the web, the government were forced to release their findings after doctors tested the vampire's blood, healing process, and other things. Those who already believed in the existence of vampires were vindicated, and older evidence of other vampire attacks began to receive more attention and hits online.

Now, practically the entire world is aware of vampires. Though some countries shrug it off as American propaganda, it will not be long before all of them come to see the truth.


What do humans know?

Humans know that vampires are out there, they know that they crave human blood, they know that they are capable of superhuman feats, that are revealed by mirrors, that most do not breathe or eat, and that their bodies heal incredibly fast. Humans are also fully aware that there are many more vampires out there, and that many of the murders in Harper Rock over the past 5 years have been due to vampires. As you can imagine, the reactions are as varied as they are extreme.

Humans are not, however, aware that the zombie infestation was indirectly caused by the return of vampires (though many suspect), and they do not yet understand that vampires are supernatural beings. Scientists are working very hard to find rational explanations for the things that vampires can do, but so far none of it is provable.


What happens now?

There will shortly be a very important sidestory which will detail the many different reactions from humans, and this will be your chance to shape the future of the relationship between humans and vampires. Will there be all-out war? Xenophobia and mistrust? Vampire worship? Religious demonisation of vampires? Will vampires be rounded up and put into captivity while experimented on? Will humans attempt to force a "cure" on vampires? Or will there be tentative peace between the two races? And what of hunters? Which new groups of vampire killers will rise, now that all of humanity is aware of their existence?


What gameplay changes will there be?

There are too many impending gameplay changes to list. Here are a few major ones:

- The violations page on Crownet will be done away with.
- Evidence hacks will cease.
- A hidden human-vampire relationship slider will be implemented, which will shift based on the roleplay and chapter consequences over the following months or years.
- Hunters will become more prevalent and vicious, particularly if the relationship between humans and vampires deteriorates.
- New government-funded organisations will arise to police vampires, due to vampiric abilities which ordinary law enforcement is unable to deal with.
- Random events dealing with the masquerade will be removed or edited, and new random events added.
- Feeding will become harder and more dangerous.
- The price of blood packs will decrease, due to humans wanting to discourage vampires from feeding on live prey.
- Being spotted feeding will now increase your police notoriety instead of your vampiric violation rating.
- Being spotted using powers will no longer have a negative effect for most powers, unless they are considered dangerous by humans (such as raising zombies), in which case they'll increase your police notoriety and the amount of hunter attacks which will come your way.


If you have questions about any of this, feel free to ask on the Game Discussions forum. However, this change is irreversible, so there's little point in asking that we go back to having a vampiric secrecy system. If you cannot imagine a vampire game without a "masquerade", and you can't imagine character conflict now that there's no violations system, then you should consider making a character on Blood of the Vampire.

[Mooncalf]

- The violations page on Crownet will be done away with.

Done.

- Evidence hacks will cease.

Done. They have been replaced with police database hacks, which let you raise or lower a person's police notoriety. These are super hard hacks, however. You'll have a 50% chance of finding information on yourself, and the rest of the time a randomly selected law breaker (player character) will be selected. You can then decide to delete the evidence (-5 notoriety), or incriminate the individual further (+2 notoriety). You'll receive experience for either decision. Planting viruses in a law enforcement database won't delete the evidence, unlike violation evidence hacks.

[Mooncalf]

- Feeding will become harder and more dangerous.

Done. Though hunters aren't significantly more common just yet. That would depend on roleplay actions in the coming months.

- Being spotted feeding will now increase your police notoriety instead of your vampiric violation rating.

Done. This also applies to being spotted fighting one another.

- Being spotted using powers will no longer have a negative effect for most powers, unless they are considered dangerous by humans (such as raising zombies), in which case they'll increase your police notoriety and the amount of hunter attacks which will come your way.

Done. Raising or summoning dangerous creatures is the only non-skirmish power which will get you hunted by the law right now.

[Mooncalf]

The partially-hidden human-vampire relationship slider has been added. You can see a general relationship standing indicator on the Crownet page, while at a terminal. The better the relationship, the cheaper bloodpacks in the city become, and the less frequently hunters hit. The standing of the sliders will also largely affect the sidestories and chapters which roll out, and the general story overall.

As a result of the sidestory proceeding the chapter, the slider has started off on positive footing. The actions of the characters involved in the sidestory were very much positive in ensuring that humans see vampires in a slighter better light than they immediately did. Of course, not everyone agrees with the general opinion of vampires (which is still shaky at best), and many nations and groups will treat vampires hostilely out of fear and anger. However, the actions of vampires over the past couple of months have at least ensured that the governments of the world are carefully considering how to proceed. In addition, blood pack prices remain low ($300, compared to $600 it was at the start of the previous chapter), and hunters will be less likely to hit sleeping vampires, at least for now.