Path of the Vampire forum

There has been a lot of talk about players becoming more involved in the politics of Path, so I was hoping we could use this thread as a means to discuss these politics.

I might be the only one curious about what people have in mind when they hear the words "Path politics", but I'm hoping you'll indulge me and share your thoughts there.

Maybe with enough talk around what could be and what should be in the RP world, we can begin to come together on certain issues and create a bit more life on this forum!

And yes, the pun was intended.

Vampires currently have no society in Path. Society is generally understood to have a common set of rules, laws, goals and that is something Path vampires simply don't have.

Generally it requires some sort of leadership which naturally lends itself to political maneuvering and power plays. Basically this has been the "meat and potatoes" of the vampire genre since the idea of "covens" was introduced. Usually older or more powerful vampires land themselves leadership spots over their progeny and sometimes even over other bloodlines.

A lot of this is done through controlling key aspects of the human world. Older vampires tend to put themselves at risk less in stories, using henchmen and cut-outs to avoid putting their own lives at risk. Dracula with Renfield, Max from the Lost Boys, the leaders of the Volturi using the "newborn army" of Victoria in Twilight. There are countless examples. Path, in lacking that social structure (even on Bloodline levels) feels absolutely less a "vampire game" and more a "multi-player hack and slash" or at times a "dating game".

Using powers like Bewitch Human combined with Important Thrall RP Power to "dig in" and manipulate city politics on the human level, other vampires seeing the value of that power (which frankly is a lot scarier than being able to point and shoot a gun successfully), seeking to use it through back-alley deals made over goblets of blood in opulent settings (or midnight meetings in a graveyard while surrounded by thralls and childer) would bring a whole new dimension to the RP in Path. The vampires would "feel" more powerful, larger than life, more... vampiric. More in-depth stories, more varied stories could emerge and convuluted politics and strategy beyond "stay off list, avoid getting shot" could evolve easily.

A vampire who bewitched a church leader could find himself with a small group of zealots willing to perform any task in their pursuit of "God's word". Enthralling powerful city politicians could prevent (or instigate) food and safety inspections being done on vampire-owned restaurants that serve human blood (and worse). That could be used as a political angle.

Even getting a vampire into the judicial circuit as a judge in Night Court would be a huge step in the vampires being able to exert their will over the politics of the city.

There's very little in the way of in-game politics and really a ton of it going on in yim behind the scenes but on an OOC level.

I'd love to see the game take on a more political bent rather than the simple super-hero motif currently seen. I think it would add a lot of depth to the game as far as role playing and creativity for those who would enjoy the more "dark and subtle" vibe the vampire genre generally offers.

I really don't see it working so well on Path as it does elsewhere since most Path vampires are about as subtle as a Kardashian. Maybe it could work better on the new game, allowing different factions and bloodlines to have some modicum of control over various aspects of the city's governance through some grid mechanic.

With the Masquerade about to fall trying to join into the city politics would be like joining the Mafia right after the code of silence was broken.

I think it would work better on a fresh platform.

Well, we're not talking about Blood.

And I don't think we need a fresh platform, either.

Yes, the city is a shambles, as far as vampires are concerned. The Masquerade is shot to ****. And that's the PERFECT atmosphere for leaders to step in and either abolish the Masquerade completely and somehow subdue the humans, or for someone to put the Masquerade back in place.

The important thrall power would be one of the best and easiest ways to do this.

What would be better? Is if there were two leaders trying to step into the void at the same time - one for and one against the Masquerade. For? That leader has other leaders below him, reporting to him. Leaders of territories manage the humans in those territories, and police the potential fallout. There's room then for outside forces - an influx of hunters coming from other cities as the word gets out, as opposed to or at the same time as some renegade seeks ways to explode the veil between the real world and the SR so it encompasses more than just Harper Rock.

Hasn't David said that he might eventually expand to other cities, and not just Harper Rock? How amazing would it be if we geared the RP toward that, via several epic impact threads?

Keeping the Masquerade, in my opinion, is the less exciting option.

Anyway, that's my two cents, and what I'd love to be involved in.

Lancaster dArtois wrote:Well, we're not talking about Blood.

And I don't think we need a fresh platform, either.

Yes, the city is a shambles, as far as vampires are concerned. The Masquerade is shot to ****. And that's the PERFECT atmosphere for leaders to step in and either abolish the Masquerade completely and somehow subdue the humans, or for someone to put the Masquerade back in place.

This and a bag of chips. Path is not VtM or VtR; it was never meant to be and will not be in the future.

While I agree with Chris's desire for the whole "dark and subtle" vibe, I think creating a unique experience that differs from what players can get elsewhere is more important.

As Chloe mentioned, there are all sorts of options. Like I said elsewhere, politics is all about people who have power interacting. In this case you have:

Pure humans (human society led by the city council, mayor etc).
Supernatural humans (Sorcs, Paladins, Blood thieves who are fragmented and ready for someone with the right skills to step into a role to lead them).
Vampires (Also fragmented and ready for change, direction and leadership).

The plot potential and political potential for getting those groups moving in a changing environment is astounding. For example. In the coming months, what if super natural humans are more trusted than vampires? Normal humans may decide to give them power over vampires to an extent, monitors or something like that. I imagine most vampires would hate that, and it creates all sorts of friction that is good for plot. Of course for that to happen, there would need to be leadership and direction for supernatural humans.

But even that is just a single potential plot. There are thousands more ways the whole thing could play out.

I'm all for seeing groups rise up and smash the Masquerade, abolish it entirely and build from scratch. I think it could lead to exciting IC divides and alliances, to a potential multi-sided war if people don't agree.

I'd like some legit consequences and things related to the politics of the city, I feel like there hasn't been much of late on the surface. As i've stated elsewhere i'd like to see more factions being active, and if that means some of us starting them, smaller factions made up on actually active players then so be it!

With humans being patched, and more powerful, I can actually see them coming together and rising up to fight the vampires, which would be amazing!

This is the perfect time, the perfect opportunity for people to step up and wipe out the old "power houses", to take over and offer a NEW future.

I think it could be really exciting if people give it a shot.

Once Alaric is up and running properly, I could see him eventually getting involved in things. He's welcoming of both vampires and humans - I'd have to focus on a particular goal. But I can keep thinking on it!

Solace is there as an 'already set up and with history' group of people and set of buildings where they teach humans about vampires and how to defend themselves against them and their powers. Robert is and always has been smooshing the masquerade, but in a more intelligent manner than standing in a square and using powers/going on a feeding rampage.

So as I say, as a place to start bringing the masquerade down fully, your start has already been made. Just need some folks to get on board and we can go whole hog on it.
Then there's CC, who is pro masque and all about her business. Is as ruthless as they come, and has no boundaries to what she will and won't do to keep her business profitable. She services humans, pathed humans, and vampires alike - so long as they pay their bills. She's not above helping pathed humans if the price is right - so think mercenary? lol.

She is whatever she's paid to be.
There's Scarlett - oblivious human, sister to Trahir. Totally open to anything happening to her should anyone want to try and 'get one over' on Trahir, or bend him to their campaign, etc etc.

Thanks to everyone for their input so far, it’s great to see so many ideas surrounding this subject.

I’m considering putting up a poll to narrow down the list of interests as described by the community, but I think I need a number of suggestions.

Could you all please make a list of what you think is the most important IC story focus of the Path community?

1) Overarching storyline involvement. (I. E. Participation in side stories, chapters, using elements of the RP only aspects of the game in threads, threads which impact the story outside of chapters and side stories).
2) Community building, be it in the form of humans, vampires, or humans and vampires.
3) Strong, dedicated, long term leaders to help organize the city and guide different groups through the hurdles ahead.

I'm good for whatever happens, but in order to have my characters "anti-masq" or even "masq-neutral" they would have to ignore (or in a couple cases be ignorant of) a couple key facts in Path canon/grid mechanics.

1. Humans killed vampires last time there was a major masq break. Holocaust doesn't equal a promising first impression. Since my guys aren't proverbial lemmings, they aren't anxious to jump off that cliff. Especially not Ambrose who was there for the first round. Trahir is also aware of the Holocaust and it being caused by a shredding of the masq and attacks by humans.

2. Even with city security issues, most of mine have been attacked by hunters. This includes the ones that don't even kill and maintain secrecy. That would teach Bastion, The Unholy, Trahir and Ambrose that humans can't be trusted with the knowledge of vampires.

3. There's a whole Path that over time can't help but kill. It doesn't happen to ~all~ Killers, but that was added in there for a reason. It happens enough to be a major focus on their description though and enough to be a trait the path was named after. It doesn't in the case of many player characters because the player wants to play a character a certain way. Rather than playing the character using canon they choose to be the exception. That's great because player characters ~should~ be exceptional. My Killer pathed vampire happens to follow the note on his Path in the canon, faded emotions, kills just to feel something, lack of empathy. He's an exception to the rule simply by being literally... the rule.

So none of mine could be hardline anti-masquerade. It has nothing to do with VtM or VtR, it has to do exclusively with Path of the Vampire.