How to Spend your Status Vote

By Ethan's player

What can you do with your vote?

The idea is that there isn't one way to spend your vote(s), but how you spend it says a lot about you. So here are some suggestions on ways to spend your votes: they are not intended to be exhaustive. This is long enough as it is.

Standing 1

You've got one vote to support, one to oppose. Where do your loyalties lie?

• Be a good clansman. Send it to the local elder of your clan, hope he'll give you some scraps from the table in the form of tasks and attention.
• Be a good citizen, send it to your Seneschal or Prince. Safe, apolitical, and strengthens the domain. Now you don't have to think about it.
• Find someone with two standing who needs a servant. Pledge loyalty, trade one status up for two down. You're getting the better half of this bargain, so make sure you make it worth his while.
• Trade it to someone for food, housing, and some modicum of protection.
• Form an alliance with some other Neonate, in the hopes of lording it over all the other little neonates. With the two of you standing together, you are the start of a political block. Maybe someone will notice.
• Form an alliance with a bunch of other neonates. Elect one leader, and give him status. Four or five of you and you have a reasonably strong political figure to protect you. But he has no standing, and so lacks the bite of a _real_ Primogen.
• The domain has enemies! Play the lesser harpy, pick a new enemy every week and attack them viciously. Maybe you'll get those harpy flags.
• Give it to who you think is good for the Camarilla. What a _strange_ idea…

Standing 2

At two standing, you probably don't have to give a vote upstairs. Unless, of course, that was part of the arrangement for your territory.

• The politician: Form a block of power. Trade feeding grounds, status, whatever it takes to give yourself the status you _know_ you deserve. Ally with other minor landholders
• The loyalist: One to the person who gave you the territory, one to the elder of your clan. You are loyal to the end, and maybe they will reward you with some status. Perhaps not permanent status, but when you get in a bind and they announce they have your back… could be useful.
• The petty lord: You have land, what you need are knights. Your votes are worth a lot to Neonates… get a bit of status in return, but what you really get are two people to do your bidding. They need your continued support to back up their bark, so you can keep asking for things. Better than a boon.
• The minor harpy: The domain has enemies! You can trade one vote for a favor, and keep the other to aid in the attacks of the harpies against… whoever.
• The quiet one: You don't need status. You have enough to get by, you have land… but the Camarilla needs guidance. Give your votes to the people who do good. Don't announce it to the world, just let the good people do good things, and make their life a little easier with the quiet whispers you give to others.

Standing 3

At standing three you might well be expected to give a vote 'upstairs' to the Prince, the Seneschal, or whatever Primogen has given you this standing.

• The independent: You and three other Primogen get together, announce you _are_ a block of power. No power goes up, no power goes down, but everyone will listen. Of course, if you are too much of a threat, and you can't hold your domain, you may find your ability to support each other lacking when Callas strips it away.
• The politician: One goes up, two to the side. Screw those people below you, you are going up, up up. Not as much status as an independent, but less likely to piss off your elders. On the other hand, you have no servants.
• The lord: One up, one to the side, and one down. You get the respect of your elders, some political assistance from the side, and a servant who is loyal. If you can give this servant some of your land, you might even get some of that status back up. But this is a highly restrictive setting… moving votes is going to screw someone.
• The public eye: Give a status up, and the others where you think it is deserved. You may not have one servant who needs your status, but you will have people vying for your vote. They know they can win it from you if they best whoever has it right now, and they will do what they can to prove they are worthy. And once they have it, they must keep doing better, to fend off the competitors.
• Harpy: Harpies don't have land. They don't have to give their status to their elders. A harpy is probably most effective when they give out their status negatively… the negative status will hopefully get the target to apologize, owe a boon, or get smacked by their elders. Then you are free to take it back and attack the next person. On the other hand, you need to trade some status for status of your own, if you don't want to kowtow to every person you piss off when they come see you in person.