dear_mun | Canon is Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines

Sounds like fun to me. [Seriously. There's a nerd in there under the muscles.] It means I have a lot of metal under my skin-- [Psst, Dev - simpler.] That is, I'm a cyborg.

...And you're a vampire. [Hoo boy. He wasn't expecting that.] Ah-- no, when I say freehold I just mean a small community, where most of the residents are united by something-- a goal, an ideology, something like that. What do you mean by it?

I see. I shall reserve the more probing questions for when I know you better, if at all...? Unless you aren't particularly sensitive about it.

Yes. You could never tell from looking, I even breathe unnecessarily. You don't last long if you can't emulate the kine, they tend to be understandably murderous, when they discover us.

If you don't mind my saying so, without seeing it, it sounds like a society that would work much better than many others... how do you handle law enforcement? From what I know, it's just a refuge of kidnap victims who share a common abductor. But the Good Folk keep away from my kind, for the most part, and we return that favor.

Oh, no, please, ask away-- I'm former World Guard, my cyborg Implants are standard-issue. And like I said, I'm hi-tek; I wanted to be augmented.

The kine-- I'm guessing that means non-vampires. Humans? ...You...feed on humans?

I hear things were a lot less... civilized, back when there were billions of people on the planet. But that was hundreds of years ago. Law enforcement, that would be the Guard. We-- they have jurisdiction almost everywhere. ...Sounds like your freeholds would benefit from dropping a line to the World Guard, if they had it; where I'm from, Gov doesn't tolerate shit like that.

I wasn't certain if you'd had some kind of injury. Where and when I'm from, concepts like cybernetic implants are still in their infancy, and applied solely in the medical field. But you elected to these procedures... was it for humanitarian reasons, or mercenary ones? (In my experience there are not many other reasons to do anything).

Unavoidably, we do, yes. That is how we perpetuate our post-death existence. But it isn't necessary to kill them, when we do. A discreet, intelligent Kindred can feed without leaving more than an addled memory of a pleasant sensation and a five minute gap in a human's awareness.

I should hope a very brutal form of justice is practiced on those who can be proven perpetrators, but I am myself an adjudicator of laws, so I suppose I'm biased.

Edited 2019-04-24 19:43 (UTC)

That's a little cynical, don't you think? I joined up because my teachers said it would be a good fit, and I would be able to do a lot of good as a Guard. Help people, protect people. ...Which I suppose counts as a humanitarian reason.

Would I be wrong in guessing that there are indiscreet, unintelligent Kindred, then? What reason otherwise would people-- humans-- have to want to kill your kind?

Heh, spoken like a true lawfolk. Are you a judge of some kind, then?

Only a little? I see, so your authority figures put you on the path - without knowing more about it, I can hardly pass judgment on it. But you sound contented, which is a good sign.

You see? If you were motivated by the desire to bully others into submission to feed an ever-hungering insecurity in yourself, I would classify that as mercenary. How old are you?

Mmm, unintelligent, uninformed, and depraved. This is why we enforce rigorous --'birthing' methods to make more of our kind. No one pro-social wants vampiric serial killers running around slaughtering humans, but unfortunately not every Kindred thinks humanity is worth preserving or living invisibly alongside. My sect wages a quiet war with the Sabbat, whose primary goal is the enslavement of humankind, to use as literal cattle.

I don't expect ordinary humans to bother discriminating between us, but I find the hunters' bloodlust for our extermination a bit disturbing.

I am a Prince. I enforce the Traditions of a given domain which I command, and exchange security and safety for Kindred with obedience to my opinions on legal matters, yes.

I suppose it might be overbearing, to someone like yourself, but we the adjudicators could do little without the strong arm, like yourself, agreeing with our methods.

Edited 2019-04-25 12:35 (UTC)

I am. [Now, anyway. ...Mostly.]

Mm, I do see what you mean. I met my fair share of folks in the Guard who were in it for the wrong reasons-- like being a Guard gives them some right to control the civs instead of just the privilege to serve them. --I'm thirty-eight, why do you ask?

As cattle? Charming. Sounds like humans where you come from are lucky to have your--sect? --between them and these Sabbat. And I thought we-- that is, the Guard-- had their hands full with the ludds.

Personally, I find bloodlust in general is a bit disturbing, but I've been told I can be a bit of a prig about that. [SHRUG CITY.]

A Prince, eh? No offense intended, but isn't that kind of...archaic?

--No, that's hardly overbearing; there's no point in even having laws without appropriate enforcement, now is there?

I'm surprised, honestly. Few people can say they are. And it looks as though our muns are planning for the worst, but I can't say that surprises me.

I suppose because you seem mature. Young by our standards, but older by the human ones.

You could say so, yes. When we're not at each other's throats, we do good work. Is it a stretch to assume 'ludds' are a protest group who oppose your hi-teks?

I try to avoid it, yes. Blood calls for more blood, and it never ends.

No offense taken; I promise you it is more of a democratic role, despite the name. I have at any given time representatives of each clan - often six, in this case five - called Primogen, who must approve of my decisions. I keep them happy, and everything proceeds smoothly. If they are not happy, progress grinds to a halt and I can do nothing.

Le sens commun n'est pas si commun, Devero. But I'm glad to see you think so.

Oh good, I was worried it was just mine. I don't mind being put through my paces, but you'd think there would be a line here somewhere.

I can't decide if I should take that as a compliment or not. Although I wonder if folks where I come from live longer than you're used to; I certainly wouldn't call myself 'older'.

Ooh, some in-fighting, then? What is this group of yours called? --Heh, more like they protest everything the World Government stands for. We let them do their own thing as much as we can, but they can't seem to let us alone to do ours.

...No, it never fucking does, does it?

And that, in turn, provides some incentive to keep them happy. And they work to keep their clans happy, in turn, I suppose?

It really isn't, that's the truth. Some things must be universal.

You would, wouldn't you.

Ventrue are master of the double edged compliment, but that one was sincere. In my lifetime, the expectancy was under 30. Now, it's 76-80 for kine. My people can live forever, provided there is no ...misadventure. You understand why even here, I am reluctant to be explicit about what would kill us, I hope.

Your augmentation helps extend your life, I imagine.

We are the Camarilla. It's complicated, and I don't want to bore you, but the simple overview is that there are three more "noble" clans in our society who have different ideas about rulership, and three lesser clans who have different ideas about being ruled over. It makes for a great deal of friction.

I see... Protestors are useful, if only to inform you about where your public policy might be adjusted, but you aren't empowered to change policy, so I can see why it may be frustrating.

Precisely. Provided they aren't interested solely in preserving their own skins. As you can probably attest in your own world, we strive toward an ideal, and meanwhile make due with reality.

Getting familiar, are we? --But it's hard not to in a situation like this, when I can taste what you're thinking, mun. [What. I'm thirsty.]

Of course. No need to expose a weakness unnecessarily. Only 80, though? Things are certainly better than that where I am, between our Implants and just... improving things, everything from before. Most folks reach 140, 150 easy, as long as something external doesn't take them out.

Hmm. That does sound complicated. Then again, when isn't there friction when you have different groups all vying to share control over something?

I just wish they'd leave us alone, since our public policy is to ~~respect their terrible life choices~~ let them do their own thing. But you're right, it's not up to me to try and figure out how to deal with ludds. I'm no politician.

...Hah. Well, doesn't that hit the nail on the head?

If you don't have a care, doubtless they'll have us getting familiar with one another. I can't blame mine - the Kiss is intimate, there isn't much getting around it. [Thirsty, indeed.]

I'm glad we agree. I admit, it is of little consequence to me, positive or negative, how long the kine live. So long as they do so happily and without knowledge of our existence, I am doing my duty well.

And I wouldn't want to wipe them all out just for disagreeing with me, either. I feel one of my Primogen has that course in mind.

What do they do, instead of leaving you alone?

The Kiss-- you mean feeding, don't you...?

That's part of your role, then? To keep your Kindred under humanity's radar?

Good. That way lies autocracy, and no one needs that kind of archaic bullshit-- except your autocrat in the making, I suppose. I hope you've got something in mind to nip that in the bud?

What else? They attack. They raid our agricultural facilities, attack reclamation sites, try to trap resource scouts and exploratory teams; they've even gone after conservation officials and naturalists in the field! They're convinced we're going to kidnap their citizens and steal their resources, or something equally paranoid and ridiculous.

Edited 2019-04-27 23:44 (UTC)

Yes. I don't have to guess how pleasurable it is for humans, I've experienced it, I think that's quite important. Your blood isn't in any way compromised thanks to your mechanical aspects, is it?

Precisely. We call it the Masquerade. As the city's Prince, I am responsible for upholding the rules most conducive to maintaining humanity's ignorance of us. This includes not making new 'vampires' carelessly, as they frequently attack humans for grudges held in their lifetimes, out of hunger or plain confusion and fear, and so on. If someone wishes to take the life of a mortal and turn them into one of us, they must seek my permission. Anyone failing to do this is killed, to stop them rampantly army building.

(Of course the Anarchs complain that this is persecution, but if they weren't so busy whinging, they might have asked for my permission and received it already)

Strauss is a very difficult case. At the risk of sounding impolitic, the Tremere were only allowed into the Camarilla because we were afraid to tell them no. They are far from popular or trustworthy, as a body, though individuals can be highly meritorious.

And they have sufficient food and resources of their own? They can survive, or thrive, without needing to interact with your sites and facilities?

Your world is very different sounding, I mean no accusation by these questions. Forgive me if they are somewhat ignorant, I seek only a better understanding.

Not unless I've just had a nanotreament, I don't think-- ...Hnh, I just distinctly heard the mun say "It wouldn't be very fun if it was, now would it?" I suppose that answers that.

Hmm. Well, I can see why someone might chafe at having to obtain permission from one person to perpetuate their kind, it sounds like you, at least, allow yourself to be kept accountable and not-- well, turn into an autocrat. And as kine, I can certainly appreciate checks put into place to keep my kind safe from yours--

Not that I think there are anything like Kindred where I come from. Just, hypothetically.

You can be impolitic with me; there's no possible way I can have any kind of impact on the state of things where you come from. Not from this place. What makes them so scary?

You're fine. I know things were very, very different even where I come from, before the Pathogen brought everyone together. It doesn't surprise me that it's different from my world to yours as well.

Ludds have everything they need out there, if they would just put in the work to take advantage of it. It's not like there's any shortage of resources available. There are outsider communities that do just fine and somehow manage to leave us alone entirely, unless they're reaching out to us for trade or we're buying scrap off of them or something. And the stuff they try to steal from us? We would give it to them freely if they would just ask. That's the part I really can't understand.

Good. My clan in particular has certain... intolerances. You might consider them allergic reactions. (And I should hate to be so uncivil as to vomit on my rescuer, as well).

While reproduction is the automatic right of all living beings, Kindred are - unnatural, you see? I don't mean to say we have no right to be on Earth, that's the line of the hunters. But we must take care that our spread does not threaten our resources, and consequently ourselves, more than other creatures.

(I would say "can you be certain" but your level of technology might make it easier to detect a walking corpse.)

Unlike the rest of us, hypothetically descended from a single line, the Tremere did not have their 'vampirism' traditionally given them. They diablerized - that is to say, they murdered and consumed - a different line in order to steal their immortality. Since then they have done little but arcane and distressing magic, including experimenting on other clans to create races of servitors, and so on.

If the Camarilla had not accepted them, they would have become our enemies, and we can ill afford such a foe. That is politics, unfortunately.

Pathogen? That sounds suitably ominous... Typhus? Trench fever?

'Put in the work', hmm? Interesting. I will say those who are too proud to ask for help and resent it when freely given are some of the most impossible to work with. I sympathize.

...It never would have occurred to me that vampires could have food allergies. (Please, Sebastian, that's natural; no need to moralize a biological function as civil or uncivil.)

I do see. I suppose there's only so far my, er, living existence maps to your unliving one.

(I'm pretty sure said walking corpse's Implant would be losing its little electronic mind. That said, who knows what's going on outside of Gov?)

While I can't say I really understand the particulars, I can see the shape of the thing. Talk about a rock and a hard place. [Devero knows about those.]

So your kind have...magic? [He's a sci-fi boy, that's way outside his realm of experience.]

Influenza. A pandemic one. Billions of people died.

Thanks. It's validating that someone from somewhere so different to my world can still get it.

There's much we do and don't do, and much of what hollywood puts forth is deliberate misinformation about our habits. While I'm grateful for the sentiment, any Ventrue finds such biological functions mortifying. We must be above these displays.

It's best to remember certain things can only exist in metaphor, yes.

What do you mean, there are places your world-police-state doesn't see into?

Yes, it is a mess. But while we have so many external enemies, we can ill afford to make more. At least the werewolves are currently critically endangered, soon to be extinct.

'Magic', the 'supernatural', some might say the very act of corpse regeneration is magical. It's something science doesn't know how to explain yet, so it is outside the realms of the language to encompass, as well, beyond these country bumpkin terms.

Billions. That's incredible. Your infrastructure must have been almost destroyed...

Heh, that's wise. --Hmm. Well, I don't get that at all, but I'm human. Must have something to do with it.

Police state? Now that's uncalled for. Most of the outsider communities, ludds included, are lo-tek, if not totally tek-null. Gov would have a hard time getting a signal in or out even if they wanted to, which they don't. Outsiders are free to make their ridiculous choices.

--Wait, werewolves? You have werewolves too?!

Hah! What's what old adage-- "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"? I wonder what our science would make of your kind.

The survivors needed to do a lot of work to rebuild. It wasn't easy. But like I said, it brought people together. They say the World Gov never would have been able to happen while so many people were alive and jostling each other for resources and power.

Kine are much more slave to their bodily functions than Kindred, it's true, but my clan in particular has... gravitas. Your class may have more to do with it. Not to say such mortification is healthy, or not. As with many things, it simply is.

Is it uncalled for, truly? While you and I have many commonalities, for which I am grateful, the human proclivity to use military might to exterminate that which differs from them is not something that binds us mutually. We seek to survive beneath the notice of omnipotent governments, you clearly benefit from - and contribute to - their functioning. But I still admire you, don't misunderstand me.

Oh, yes. The "Garou" as they call themselves are berserker bigots, a fading patriarchal 'benefactor' of humanity, those who exterminate Kindred on the basis that we live unnaturally. They cannot be reasoned with, and when I was a young Kindred, they were positively crawling in the undeveloped lands - miles of forests full of them. Despicable vermin.

I should not like to find out.

Then, like the great plague of Europe, it had some benefit for the kine even among staggering losses. But I wonder, did it leave lasting psychological scars?

My class? What's that supposed to mean?

My mun obviously has work to do, since she's not portraying Gov to you and yours in the right light at all. "Exterminate", "omnipotent"-- it isn't. We don't! [But is that true, or just what he believes? Or is it still just a work in progress because I'm still developing it? ~The world will probably eventually know.~]

...You admire me?

Loup-garou, eh? I'm no history buff, but I know enough French to recognize that. You say they're going extinct, though? Because of your Kindred...?

No, I imagine not. That's fair.

Doesn't any major disaster leave psychological scars? Where I'm from, we-- [Mocking the mun voice:] 'have a cultural obsession with health and wellness', apparently.

It means you are... not landed. Not of the gentry. Not of noble birth, not of means, not of genteel breeding. You are akin to a soldier. You may come from a world where this distinction does not matter, but you cannot be truly free of it in mine. Judgment is absolute, and almost immediate.

I don't believe in the perfect efficiency of governments. Not even the Camarilla. Devero, I am Ventrue. I believe that I alone can lead, best, and most compassionately. I don't need their input, I bide my time in toleration of it. I would never, ever say this to you outside of this place, but if the Camarilla fell tomorrow, I would gladly take my place as the new leader of the Inner Circle, and improve the whole rotten mess against my blueprint.

Yes? Is that surprising?

Oh, certainly not. They're going extinct because of corporations destroying forests. Long might they prosper, at least long enough to drive the beasts out. Werewolves can, in an eyeblink, slaughter a dozen Kindred. The damage they do never fully heals - it scars us. They are a terrifying opponent.

Cultural obsession? Do elaborate. It isn't as though I'm not talking your ear off.

Incredible. So this is what this kind of attitude sounds like. They teach us about stuff like this in school, about how this kind of divisiveness almost destroyed the world, but I guess it's impossible to really understand until you see it in action.

How are you so sure you're the right one to lead? What makes your blueprint the best choice? [He's genuinely curious; he doesn't understand this kind of attitude.]

No one's ever told me anything like that before. Especially not since-- well, in the spirit of things I wouldn't want to talk about outside of this place, I got thrown out of the guard. Dishonorably discharged. What's to admire about that?

They sound formidable. And...humans? Are they that dangerous to humans, too?

Hah, well, isn't that the point of interacting in this capacity? To talk each other's ears off? We're just...careful. We're all careful. The Pathogen could have exterminated humanity, and we can't afford another pandemic like that. So we take precautions: our babies live in hospitals for the first several years of their lives. Everyone wears basic physical monitoring at almost all times; most people have internal Implants that track their heartbeat, respiration, blood sugar, and the tek-nulls use a specialized Interface that does the same. If you're sick, you go get treated. If you're chronically ill, your condition is managed. Outsiders aren't allowed into our cities and facilities-- we go to them or meet in neutral zones, in case their community is a reservoir of something nasty. Pursuing a career in medicine or medical research is one of the highest callings you can aspire to, and lucrative no matter what level you end up at. Failing to disclose and seek treatment for infectious illness in a timely manner can get you remanded into government custody.

Community immunity keeps us all well, so we all need to do our part in keeping ourselves healthy, you see?

I beg your pardon?

Endorsing myself personally, I am opposed to inhuman behaviors against the kine and very patient with attempts to work with the Kindred. This puts me leagues above the Inner Circle, even if I make mistakes, I do so with better intentions than securing my own luxury.

It depends on the circumstances of your discharge, to me, but I can only work with the information you've presented to me personally, and I should not like to make assumptions.

To humans, if possible, they are worse. In the ancient times they went around eating and "culling" them, like some hideous human dictator's fursona, determined that they were lords above all, with a divine right from Mother Earth to do so. They call humans "the Flock", if that helps you to understand their mentality - we call them kine, for cattle, but unlike the wolves, we live among human beings, and we are forced to see them as human if we wish to have any hope of emulating them.

..."careful" and "frightened" are close bedfellows. I wonder - .... but then, again, I would rather not make assumptions. You're very noble.

This conviction that some sorts of people are somehow worth more than others. I don't know if I can explain how absurd that sounds to me.

At least in that, you'd fit in where I come from. Just the kind of attitude we look for in our civic leaders-- not that I'm surprised, given the tenor of both your politics and mine. But if your attitude were the norm rather than an exception, I wonder, would you still feel the most fit to lead?

That's very reasonable of you, thank you.

Goddamn. That's atrocious. It feels very strange for me to say this, but perhaps it's for the best that they're going extinct.

No, that's fair. Of course we're afraid. Wouldn't you be, if you were part of a scant surviving population following an extinction event?

Canon is Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines

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