Camarilla Law

The Traditions

Copyright White Wolf 1992 - all rights acknowledged. See Legal.

The vampiric Traditions are fundamental rules of conduct, akin to the mortals' Ten Commandments. Their origins are shrouded in mystery, but they were passed down from antiquity, and when the Camarilla was formed, the Traditions were codified and set into law. The Traditions are:

The First Tradition: The Masquerade
Thou shall not reveal thy true nature to those not of the Blood. Doing such shall renounce thy claims of Blood.
General meaning: Vampires should not, in any way, let their vampiric nature be known to mortals. This prohibits everything from something as extreme as using flashy disciplines in public to something as relatively common-place as taking multiple fatal wounds and remaining obviously alive.

The Second Tradition: Domain
Thy domain is thy own concern. All others owe thee respect while in it. None may challenge thy word while in thy domain.
General meaning: In modern nights, only the Prince claims domain. This tradition is therefore interpreted to mean that one must obey the Prince.

The Third Tradition: Progeny
Thou shall only Sire another with the permission of thine elder. If thou createst another without thine Elder's leave, both thou and thy Progeny shall be slain.
General meaning: Vampires may only Embrace with the Prince's permission.

The Fourth Tradition: The Accounting
Those thou create are thine own children. Until thy Progeny shall be Released, thou shall command them in all things. Their sins are thine to endure.
General meaning: Until those Embraced are deemed knowledgeable enough to be held responsible for their own actions, their sires will be held responsible for their actions.

The Fifth Tradition: Hospitality
Honour one another's domain. When thou comest to a foreign city, thou shall Present thyself to the one who ruleth there. Without the word of acceptance, thou art nothing.
General meaning: When a vampire comes to a new city, they must present themself to the Prince.

The Sixth Tradition: Destruction
Thou are forbidden to destroy another of thy kind. The right of destruction belongeth only to thine Elder. Only the Eldest among thee shall call the Blood Hunt.
General meaning: Killing other vampires should be done only at the Prince's command.

The Traditions in Los Angeles

How the Traditions are interpreted, and how strictly they are enforced, depends on who is interpreting or enforcing.

In the areas surrounding the heart of Los Angeles, a collective of fundamentalist Elders imposes an iron reign. The Outside resembles the most Traditional European courts; London, Berlin, Vienna. Age is everything and a neonate should not expect to be treated as anything more than a servant to the old. Traditions are scrupulously followed, with a complex set of protocols on how to address an elder, how to ask permission to Sire, or even ghoul. Punishments for even minor transgressions are severe, and they are strictly enforced.

Although the Ancient did claim independence from the Camarilla's global lead, his rule - for all intents and purposes, can be called Camarilla. It is like the king refusing to acknowledge the power of the Emperor: The king still enforces the same laws, with the same governmental structure to enforce it. Although the Emperor may send armies in an attempt to bring the upstart down, little changes on a level of the Kingdom. The subjects still need to pay taxes, nobles have the same duties and rights. The same happens in the world of vampires; Where the Prince of a Domain refuses the Inner Council and its Justicars.

THE FIRST TRADITION - THE MASQUERADE

This Tradition is enforced ruthlessly. The only way to avoid a sentence of death is to fix the "breach", as violations of this Tradition are commonly called, before the Prince gets involved. Even controlled breaches of Masquerade will often be punished with a loss of Standing, physical chastisement, or worse. Ghouling without permission is usually considered a controlled breach of Masquerade.

The Masquerade is considered common sense, a necessary protection versus the mortal masses. As such it is as valid in the City of Angels as it is in any Camarilla Domain. And even the anarch border areas may expect a band of Camarilla officers chasing an violator, should they neglect to correct such transgressions themselves.

THE SECOND TRADITION - DOMAIN

It is through the Second Tradition that Standing is granted, and control over territory bequeathed. It is through the Second Tradition that vampires of Standing are able to fashion rules for their domains, so long as they do not conflict with the rules of those who hold Domain over them.

This Tradition is the basis for the power structure in Los Angeles. Emerson is Prince over the City of Angeles, but forwards bits and pieces of that Domain to those that support him. The amount of land a vampire holds domain over, is measured in 'Standing'. Different levels of Standing come with different titles, rights and responsibilities. For more information on how this works, please refer to +news systems/standing and +news government/standing levels.

THE THIRD TRADITION - PROGENY

Creating a childe without permission is usually a death sentence for the child, and often for the sire as well. At the very least a sire can expect demotion in Standing or loss of status. But permission can, particularly for the powerful and influential, be obtained after the fact. On occasion, a more lenient Prince may even look the other way and simply accept the childe when he or she is presented. Wise vampires do not gamble their unlives on this sort of rare generosity of spirit, however.

In the Heart of Los Angeles permission to create Progeny can be given by the Prince, his Seneschal or by the Clan Elder of the vampire seeking the Embrace. In addition, those with high Standing may permit embraces within their territory. Anarch embraces in the border areas are generally overlooked, but a Childe created that way should not expect to be protected or acknowledge by the Officers of the Domain.

THE FOURTH TRADITION - THE ACCOUNTING

The sins of the childe are visited on the father. Until the childe is presented to the Prince, recognized, and released, a ritual that varies in substance from Prince to Prince, the sire is held responsible for everything the childe does; both may be punished. Twisting the rule around, many times the sire's enemies will visit their disfavor on the childe. There is no recourse for the childe, for one not released has no standing to complain to the powers that be.

In the City of Angels this is as true. However, a Sire looking to have their Childe acknowledged as an adult has a few more options. They may approach the Prince, his Seneschal, the Primogen Council or their Clan Elder.

THE FIFTH TRADITION - HOSPITALITY

Each Prince has a different method for accepting residents and transients, and each Prince punishes trespassers differently. More traditional courts require presentation to the Prince herself, whereas in other Domains receiving permission from officers suffices. In conjunction with the Second Tradition, one wielding Domain over a place may permit or bar another vampire from entering the area they control. The worst offense under this Tradition is hunting in another's domain without permission. Vampires are extremely territorial, particularly about their food.

The City of Los Angeles is to some extent cut off from the surrounding city by the Outsider Encirclement. Although it is hardly possible to monitor and enforce such a border the constraints by law are severe. The Magistrate of the surrounding city demands presentation and permission before traveling through. It would come as no surprise that permission to enter Emerson's Domain is given only when the vampire is expected to oppose the Ancient. Hence, those that would support the Independents are likely to use different routes. Indeed, several residents of the City of Angels make a living of smuggling vampires in and out. Those that are caught or found to have trespassed without such permission may find themselves stigmatized as anarchs and treated accordingly.

Subsequently however - those that enter the city with permission are likely to be regarded as agents of the Encirclement, and may find receiving acknowledgement or hunting rights harder.
In sum; a vampire entering the City of Los Angeles must make a choice between the official Camarilla route and the Independent underground, and that decision may influence their reception by the various factions inside the City of Angels some time to come.

Getting acknowledged in the Heart of Los Angeles requires a few steps. A vampire new in the Domain may obtain temporal permission by simply announcing their presence via an official message in the LACMA Elysium. This message should include a declaration of acknowledgement and loyalty to the Domain's Prince. The validity of this temporal permission generally expires after 4 months (1 RL month), leaving the vampire a quarter of a year to obtain more permanent permission by the word of the Domain's officials; The Prince, his Seneschal, the collective Primogen Council or their own Clan's Elder or Primogen.

In addition, any landholder may permit (or block) a vampires right to remain in the territory they control. However, whereas enforcement of Domain-wide acknowledgement is the responsibility of the Domain's government (The Primogen-council, a Sheriff, a Scourge), enforcement of domain is a matter of the landholder, and whatever power he can draw upon to press his will.

THE SIXTH TRADITION - DESTRUCTION

Princes jealously guard their monopoly on lethal force. It is almost a universally accepted rule that one who violates this Tradition is themselves destroyed. As with all Traditions, it is only a crime if you get caught, and if you get caught may also depend on how avid vampires are to avenge the vampire that was killed. In this diablerie is the most gravest of crimes, and any that commits it is extremely unlikely to be pardoned, even when the act was committed by accident.

In Los Angeles Emerson claims the right of destruction. However, it is expanded to include a untraditional, or perhaps more traditional meaning. In the City of Angels the right of destruction belongeth truly to thine Elder, as the Clan Elders residing in Los Angeles may call upon their right to destroy any of their Blood. Clan Elders are unlikely to exercise this right without good reason however. And even then, they may see their call countered by the Prince, the Seneschal or the collective Primogen Council.

Childer or unacknowledged anarchs are not protected by the sixth tradition and what-ever final deaths the rabble in the border areas choose to impose upon each other, is generally ignored by the officers of the Domain.

Presented Commands

We provide a command to check who has been officially accepted as a resident of a Domain. Use of this command is restricted to your lore-level or designated rights within a domain. Architects may use any of the commands.

Command Usage
+presented <domain> Lists people presented in <domain>
+presented/add <char> to <domain> Adds <char> to <domain> list
+presented/delete <char> from <domain> Deletes <char> from <domain> list

NOTE: To give a character the rights to alter the list of people presented in the domain, you need to have a TechArch list the domain name in the _PRESENT attribute. For example, if Emerson is letting Apolo determine who is in/out, then we would set:
&_PRESENT *apolo=LOS-ANGELES

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