THE NEW SETTING
At its core Staff aims to give the political arena of Camarilla politics to the PCs; You get to play the roles and fill the positions that often were taken by (in)active NPCs in the past. The PCs should be the ones in the spotlight.
We realize there is a risk - meaning that player-driven plot may not always be abundant or enjoyable. We hope our NPCs will be able to stir and support, also on a level of consistency and theme.
We chose Emerson as NPC Prince, because he's the only NPC who can truly afford to be lenient, to the point of being uncaring.. Yes, even concerning matters of his own Clan.
The Elders in all likelihood will be Julian Fletcher of Clan Brujah, Raphael Torres of Clan Gangrel, Emory Masterson of Clan Nosferatu, Gillian Ventriss of Clan Toreador, Christopher Kyle of Clan Tremere and Elaine Pruitt of Clan Ventrue.
The IC role of these Elders changed. Each of them will hold a single grid where the clan-hangout is situated, where vampires new in the Domain may hunt for a while. Apart from this however, they no longer aim for land and positions. NPC Elders become the puppeteers in the background who operate primarily via the members of their Clan. Camarilla politics is left to the young - the players.
This OOC-focus is backed up with a (yet unknown) IC development.. a development acknowledged by Emerson who empowers the position of the Elders by granting them power over their underlings: I.e. in the future you may gain permission to embrace from your Clan-Elder, but beware! They also are given the right to destroy. Then the NPC Elder may choose to forward (part of) this power to a PC Primogen of their/the clan's choosing, representing the clan in the Primogen Council. The Primogen in turn can forward (part of) their power to the Whip.
The Ancient is happy to leave nigh-to-night governance to the Clan representatives; They are the ones who essentially run the Domain: Appointing officers such as Sheriffs, Keepers. Appointment of the Seneschal remains in the Prince's hands and the Primogen may choose how to work with him/her, or not.
The rest: Territory, positions, status, prestige? It becomes the playground of the youngsters. Emerson changes the rules of the game however: Keeping territory now requires you have backing from other PCs. You need to be able to manage and protect what you hold, if only to safeguard it from Outsider influences. But, those who manage to gather a respectable amount of territory are granted Prince-like power over those residing in their fiefdoms.
Outside the PC-grid? The former Domains do not continue as they were. Outside is a stronghold of extremely, extremely Traditional Camarilla: A fascist alliance of suppressive old-fashioned Elders aiming to usurp the rebels inside. This may make traveling in and out somewhat troublesome, depending of course on what side your character is really on.
This puts the 'anarchs' in a special position. One could speculate that on a global Camarilla level, Emerson and all those who support him are anarchs. On a Domain-level however, anarchs are those who defy the Prince, his government and his (for all intents and purposes, Camarilla-like) laws. As a result there likely will be 2 types of anarchs;
1) The traditional kind, defying any authority: They may have an easier time since they too oppose the Camarilla encirclement.
2) The underground agents of the fundamentalist Camarilla outside.
In this future LA we envision 3 main opportunities for meaningful conflict, that may in turn influence each-other.
1) Player(factions) vs Player(factions): The political arena (status, prestige, standing, positions etc.) is given to the players. Vampires advance on the basis of effort, competence and effectiveness rather than age. It pays to group in coteries or swear fealty to a leader. Basically, we aim for groups (Coteries/alliances) and individuals of players jockeying for power, positions and land. Those able to claim large chunks of land are granted Prince-like power over those residing in their fiefdoms, provided they display basic loyalty to Emerson.
2) Clan vs Clan: The 7 Elders (one per clan) retreat from the public arena to their little in-clan courts. The NPC Elders become the puppet-masters in the background, playing their chess-game by pulling the strings of those they are able to control via carrots & sticks.
3) Camarilla vs Independents: The PC-part of LA is surrounded by an extremely traditional Camarilla Hardcore environment - that has a significant amount of allies and representatives inside.
There is a constant struggle for control between the two factions in which our traditional anarchs can claim a special niche. Your character may choose to ally up with one faction or the other - or sell its services to the highest bidder.
Note: The Camarilla vs Independents set-up may not be a lasting situation. There are things to change and affect. Secrets may be uncovered, a faction may win and tables may turn. We aim for a chronicle, a world that players can affect if they put in sufficient effort, not a static environment.
Supporting this move to the new Setting were the following to-do items:
- New Setting: Staff decided upon what elements the new Setting should hold in order to arrive in a place that would support the aims listed in previous file.
- Change Story: Staff decided upon a change story that would IC-ly transfer our setting from Old to New. This Change-story was partially executed via roleplayed and concluded in a Fast Forward. You can read a high level overview or this story here.
- Timeline Updates: The +news files detailing our History will be updated to include past happenings as soon as possible.
- Selection and cleaning of NPC's: Staff selected a handful of NPC's that will be continued and +unapproved the NPCs that no longer reside in Los Angeles. This took us from approximately 200+ Feature NPCs back to a manageable 10.
- A new grid: The new +map and new grid was implemented (with special thanks to Jack's player and Fault Lines), taking us from 150+ areas back to 37.
- In addition we will select and implement Clan Hangouts and the IC Clan BBSs
- Now, Staff will need to update all Sect, Clan and Domain Lores to reflect the new situation. Please bear with us as we work our way through the files.
