Status is the term that defines the level of trustworthiness or respect within Camarilla Society. It determines the weight with which a vampire's word should be regarded, as well as the "pecking order" within vampire society. It is a resume of adjectives that define character, rank, and standing in the Camarilla. Simply put, those with more status can demand respect from, or even ignore, those with less. In cases where there is a dispute between vampires and the evidence is lacking, Status, and who has more of it, may be the deciding factor in who is right.
Status Systems
A character's Status is made up of 2 components:
- A base-value determined by their level of Standing: Higher levels of Standing result in a slightly higher Status.
- The bulk of a character's status is made up of 'Status-votes'.
Characters may cast Status-votes with a specific weight on each-other. Every vampire in good Standing (Standing 1) has Status-votes, and thus some ability to affect the Status of another character. A Status vote can be used to support and oppose, respectively increasing or decreasing the target's Status.
Casting a Status vote behind a character IC-ly includes that your character is telling most of the people they encounter, how much of an upstanding member of the Camarilla the other vampire is. A Status-support should illustrate a character’s loyalty to the Camarilla, whereas a Status-oppose should reflect anarch behavior.
Subsequently, Status is defined as a spectrum from the negative to the positive. On the positive side, is Camarilla Status. On the negative side, is anarch Reputation. This looks something like this:
The weigth of the Status vote depends on the level of Standing and/or or if the vampire is a Harpy or not:
- Increased territorial control results in increased social cloud. Thus, vampires with higher Standing have significantly more Status votes, where each Status vote has a significantly bigger impact. Thus, although Status distribution is not dictated by Princes, Primogen or Harpies, their opinions are not easily ignored.
- Harpies are Neonates and youthful Ancilla, that earned the respect (a.k.a. harpy votes) of a sufficient number of vampires. With enough harpy votes, a vampire is known unofficially as a Harpy, and he or she has the social clout of a Primogen.
Whether you are a Neonate, Harpy, or Prince, you only get one Harpy vote. However, your position affects how much your vote is weighted. Characters with a certain threshold of weighted harpy votes become Harpies, which means they have the social clout of a minor Primogen. The Harpy with the most status is known as the Grand Harpy and has the status clout of a major Primogen.
Similarly, the effect of Status votes differ, depending on if their source is known as an upstanding member of the Camarilla or an anarch.
In this it’s important to understand that although Status –always- revolves around Camarillian or anarchish behavior, supporting the Camarilla generally is not sufficient to be awarded Status votes. The system is much more practical and political in nature. Earning and receiving Status votes often involves backroom negotiations, fostering relationships, swearing fealty, extending favors or offering services. Those who investigate who votes for who can easily identify the underlying alliances and enmities between the vampires in the city. One of our players wrote a very good article on Status voting considerations and who tends to support or oppose who for what reasons. You can find it here.
How it works
Let's pretend we have a few individuals:
- Jane: Camarilla, Standing 2, Status 4.
- Bob: Camarilla, Standing 1, Status 2.
- Eric: anarch, Standing 3, Status -4 (Shows as: anarch Reputation 4)
Some example actions:
- If Jane issues a +Status/support for Bob, it increases his status by 2 to 4.
- If Jane issues a +status/support for Eric, it increases his status from -4 to -2. This has the appearance of -lowering- his anarch reputation. If the Cammies are approving of the anarch, that anarch is not being very anarchish.
- If Eric issues a +Status/support for Bob, it -decreases- his status from 2 to -1, because if an anarch is praising you, it /reduces/ your status.
If someone with positive status praises you, it increases your status. If someone with positive status denounces you, it decreases your status. If someone with negative status praises you, it decreases your status. If someone with negative status denounces you, it increases your status.
Note: The system takes Status-switches into account. If people flip between anarch Reputation and Camarilla Status the effect of their votes are adjusted in a census (or two).
Example:
Bob is status-supports Jane, thus increasing her status.
Then Eric status-supports Bob, and drops his status into negative.
Bob is now seen as an anarch, and as such, his 'support' of Jane should decrease her status.
In this it’s important that players do not game the system! It’s not to win. If you are saying something favourably about another person, it should be a /support no matter the effect!
You should not take into account, "Does this raise their status?" to determine if you want to /support or /oppose. You /support if you are saying something positive; you /oppose if you are saying something negative. The numbers work themselves out as they are meant to.
Guidelines on Casting Status Votes
A character who has chosen to affect someone's status is doing the IC equivalent of telling most of the people they encounter, for an extended amount of time, the text included in the rumor they generated.
These +status actions are the code representation of a character who is, in effect, putting his weight behind or against another person. It is an action that reflects on the actor as much as the one acted upon and it carries IC ramifications or benefits as well. +Status actions also include favors and disfavors, both of which follow the same rules and guidelines as support/oppose actions do.
So, for example:
CORRECT
+status/support Frederico=That Frederico, he's an upstanding member of the Camarilla.
+status/oppose Frederico=He's never showed Prince Acton his due.
+Status actions are actions that support or oppose a person's membership in the Camarilla. Someone who has +declared themselves to be Camarilla will be supporting another person's standing in the Camarilla, while a +declared anarch will support a person's not belonging in the Camarilla.
For example:
CORRECT
(Camarilla) +status/support Frederico=He always pays his boons.
(anarch) +status/support Frederico=Way to tell Emerson to shove it up his ass!
Note that these are two very different 'support' messages and, while an anarch's support would mean that Frederico's Camarilla status will decrease, to 'adjust' the +status action to achieve a desired end result instead of supporting or opposing someone is considered cheating.
For example:
INCORRECT
(anarch) +status/oppose Frederico=Way to tell Emerson to shove it up his ass!
The +status action in this example doesn't match its text; the 'rumor' being passed around (in effect the literal words a character is saying about someone) don't match the action that they're taking (opposing). This is an easy concept- if there is any confusion, please contact Staff.
+Status actions should never be used to support or oppose someone in any field other then their participation in the Camarilla.
For example:
INCORRECT
(Camarilla) +status/support Frederico=Boy, can he sing!
As is easy to see, the +status action above has nothing to do with how good a member of the Camarilla Frederico happens to be. It is a nonsense rumor and, if a PC were to walk around the grid and tell everyone they see that Frederico is a good singer, it likely wouldn't impact his status in the Camarilla.
The +status system can sometimes be difficult to understand; but since LA:aHD is a political game, it is absolutely necessary that players make every effort to understand how the +status system is to be used.
Using Status
In game terms, Status and reputation are relative social traits that arbiter who may be used to claim social advantage in social contests. These social traits only have meaning in relationship to other characters with the same social traits. For example, if you have a higher Status than a vampire opponent with Status, then you may claim social advantage in a social contests. This is known as 'pulling rank'. The target may ignore this, but this is considered a snub to the Status of the other vampire, which may have unpleasant results.
Of course, anarchs with Reputation care nothing of Status. They care just about Reputation. And the Clan Prestige complicates the social advantage calculus.
Status and Reputation are polar opposites of the same trait, and this trait functions simultaneously with Clan Prestige . It's entirely possible that you can pull Status rank on someone who pulls Clan Prestige rank on you. You can each claim advantage (which would cancel each other out), and you can each choose to ignore the status item in question (which cancels the other person's claim to advantage).
Humans don't know about Status, Reputation, or Clan Prestige, so they are not affected by it. Ghouls generally have no Status of their own, being considered property. Any societal power they enjoy comes from their master's clout, and any praise or criticism of their behavior usually falls upon the master as well.
Ignoring Status
You may choose to ignore the status or reputation of that gives a player social advantage over you. However, doing so has consequences. For a substantial period of time after using the status/ignore command, you cannot use your own social traits to claim social advantage over other characters. Additionally, a rumor is generated that memorializes this occurrence, including a status disfavor against you.
When you +status/ignore someone, you will automatically suffer a system generated disfavor; the value of this will be as if the person whose status you are ignoring was giving you a disfavor. Thus, the bigger the difference between your status and theirs— the worse the disfavor you'll receive. This system generated disfavor will be treated as an overt one from whoever has the highest standing— you or the person you are ignoring. Thus, it will linger at least two weeks— but possibility as much as a month. The Camarilla does not look kindly upon people that ignore status, after all.
You do not need to use this command if, and only if, <player> -volunteers- to keep your insolence secret and all witnesses consent.
Status Commands
These commands, in conjunction with the boon commands and the prestige commands, administer the complex interaction of vampire relationships that determine advantage on social contests.
Viewing Status
| Command | Usage |
| +status | lists your own status and harpy traits (if any), how many votes you currently have, and how your votes are allocated among other characters. A status vote represents how much of your personal clout that you have invested in supporting or undermining the social position of others. |
| +status <player> | list <player>'s standing, title, and known social traits such as Camarilla status and anarch reputation. This command will also indicate whether you or <player> can claim advantage in social contests as referenced in +news systems/status. |
| +status/glance | provides and abbreviated summary of the relative standing, titles, and social traits of everyone in your location, including where social advantage lies between you and each other person. |
| +statuslist | provides a breakdown of all characters in the game who possess status. It will also allow you to track changes in status that have occured in the last 24 hours. If a person's status has gone up, they will be marked as green with a + next to their name. If their status has gone down, they will be marked as red with a - next to their name. |
| +status/investigate <name> | investigates which characters cast their support behind <name>. The outcome may be more elaborate, including the rumor used to praise. However, the outcome may also be a botch. You may only investigate a person once per day; and you get a number of investigations equal to your home sect lore per cycle. Harpies can investigate the same person in half the time, and get twice the number of investigations per cycle. |
Note: These commands do not display those who are at or near status 0.
Affecting 'Permanent' Status
| Command | Usage |
| +status/support <player>=<reason> | is the command by which you use a status vote to support <player>. This vote represents continuing support until it is retracted. Your own social traits determine how your vote affects <player>. If you have Camarilla status, your vote increases Camarilla status and decreases anarch reputation. If you have anarch reputation, your vote decreases Camarilla status and increases anarch reputation. The <reason> is how your character justifies the vote of praise, and the full text of the <reason> will appear in an IC rumor. |
| +status/oppose <player>=<reason> | is the command by which you use a status vote to denounce <player>. It works in the exact opposite of +status/support. |
| +status/retract <player> | retracts a status vote that you have given to <player>. |
Examples of how both commands might increase Camarilla status:
+status/support Acton=He protects us from chaos, keeping a rightful order that keeps the foul anarchs away. [From a Neonate of Santa Monica.]
+status/oppose Acton=He is such a fascist pig. Who does he think he is to destroy Joe and Bob all because Bob forgot to get fucking permission to embrace Joe. Fucking Elders. [From an anarch of South Central.]
Affecting Temporary Status
| Command | Usage |
| +status/favor <player>=<reason> | is the command by which you note a favorably impression of <player>. The favorable comment is the <reason>. The <reason> will be memorialized as a rumor. This command functions much like +status/support, except that the affect is much smaller and it degrades within a matter of weeks, at most. A +status/favor represents a singular, favorable impression that your character has of <player>. It does -not- represent continuing support of <player>, and it should not be treated as such. |
| +status/favor <player>/overt=<reason> | is the same command as a normal +status/favor, except your character will be noted as the source of the rumor. As a consequence, the affect of the favor will last about twice as long as favor that is not overt. |
| +status/disfavor <player>=<reason> | is the command by which you note an unfavorable impression of <player>. It works in the opposite manner of +status/favor. +status/disfavor <player>/overt=<reason> similarly increases the potency of a disfavor by making your comment overt. |
Note: These temporary status and reputation commands cannot be retracted, and they count against your total available (dis)favors until they expire.
Electing Harpies
| Command | Usage |
| +harpies | lists all current harpies, including the Grand Harpy. Harpies have significant advantages in our status system. The Grand Harpy has even greater advantages. |
| +harpy/elect <player> | presents your harpy vote for <player>. |
| +harpy/retract | reclaims your harpy vote so that you can give it to someone else. |
Using & Ignoring Status
| Command | Usage |
| +status/claim <player> | provides a verifiable emit that proves you can claim advantage over <player>. |
| +status/ignore <player> | is used to ignore the status or reputation of <player> that give <player> social advantage over you. This command has consequences. For a substantial period of time after using the command, you cannot use your own social traits to claim social advantage over other characters. Additionally, a rumor is generated that memorializes this occurrence, including a status disfavor against you. You do not need to use this command if, and only if, <player> -volunteers- to keep your insolence secret and all witnesses consent. To give Obfuscated players an opportunity to object the ooc command must be used to negotiate. |
