Let's be specific as to what a Life Boon means here (and we have to say this as people keep forgetting). If you owe someone a Life Boon you are a slave... you are an indentured servant. Whomever you owe it to gets to own you. They can do with you as they wish. The Servitor is virtually Catiff, and most Clans very quickly forget their former member, as it causes embarrassment for them to have one of their Clan brought down to such a level (the treatment is worse for Ventrue who owe so much; Tremere tend to be recalled to Vienna; Brujah get treated better but still). The person who owes a Life Boon is publicly trapped. They can nothing about it. Tough luck sweetheart!

Now, say the Clan Head of the Ventrue ends up owing a Life Boon to someone. That puts the Ventrue into a VERY difficult position. That person can make the clan Head do ANYTHING they want, even betray his Clan, and the Ventrue HAVE to live with it. If the Clan Head ignores the Boon... that would be worse. The prudent response would be to get themselves a new Clan Head. The old one has fallen out of favour.

Boons are the way things are done. You want to do anything in the world of the Kindred, you need Boons to do it. There are other options... you could always do it yourself. No doubt this means you have a hugely powerful PC who has a sheet that is twice the size of the Justicar"s and could take on Caine in a straight fight. Good for you... now please leave! The Camarilla is designed so that everyone NEEDS to do deals. Boons are Boons, the currency of the Camarilla. Try to just keep the following scale in mind... a level one boon means you owe someone a simple favour. A level two means that it is a bit more important, perhaps a series of little favours. A level three Boon can be a series of actions, or a LARGE favour. A level four is a HUGE favour, that means you may owe the respondent something for a while... and a Life Boon means they OWN you. Just keep that in mind. Keep Boons down to Levels one, Two and Three... a four means you are in trouble and a five is something virtually impossible to get out of.

Try to keep in mind the following... a life boon is a rare thing to give. You have got to give someone back their LIFE. Saving their life... and by that the definition is SAVING, not helping. A person finds themselves attacked by a bunch of Malkavian Neonates... you help him kill them, and claiming that they owe you a life boon is bound to get you laughed at. It ain't a life boon. But if that self same person is attacked by several Get of Fenris... well then, it's a life boon. Provided that YOUR life was in danger as well. You almost gave your life to save them... they OWE you now.

Please remember one thing- unless you tell someone about your boon it doesn't exist. Boons have to be registered. And the people who keep track of Boons are the Harpies. You need Harpies... they make sure that everyone is paying the price for the favours they have asked. This leads us into the nastiest part of all this... not keeping a promise. Failing to respond to a boon is a REAL bad thing. REAL bad. How bad? OK, let's go back to the example I gave earlier about the Clan Head of the Ventrue owing a Life Boon to someone. Suppose this someone asked the Clan Head to give over secrets of the Ventrue (all the really intimate stuff). The Clan Head says NO. Well, that's it. The person who refuses has just welched on his debts. No matter why they did it ("I would rather die than betray my Clan's secrets") it's beside the point. The person has ignored the Boon and now they must pay the price. If someone is discovered to have defaulted then they get it in the neck... immediately they are considered to have lost all their status; they should be ostracised; exile from their home Domain is to be considered a good thing. Their assets and goods are free to be seized by ANY Kindred; their Ghouls, their Influences, their money, all of it is open to be taken. Some old fashioned Princes may even use this as an excuse to have them Bloodhunted. It's that's nasty and that simple. If you owe you had better pay... or else you lose EVERYTHING. Title, station, the lot.

Things become complicated when we get to those of Station. Primogen who refuse their debts are automatically assumed to have resigned their position. Princes are the same, aside from the fact that they can only be judged by the royal Court of the Harpies ( if the Royal court decides that this is the case, the Prince suffers the above penalties and the Domain immediately becomes one of Bad Standing), and Clan Heads are also judged the same way, with the added effect of the ENTIRE Clan receiving the same punishment (so in the above example, the Ventrue would be torn between wanting to kill their Clan Head for owing a Life Boon and REALLY wanting to kill him for refusing to pay it!). Owing someone a Boon is a regrettable fact of life. Owing them a life boon is a BIG drag. Not paying your Boons is much, much, MUCH worse!

Finally, a few clarifications. When a Prince asks you to do something, he or she can get out of it being a Boon by saying it is to do with the security of the Domain. After all a Domain is a Princes concern, so it now be said that asking for a Boon can be seen as undermining the Princes right to rule... which is not a good thing. Remember, one can only charge a Boon to the Prince if you are doing a personal favour (and no, I am not going to explain the ways to get around this... think about it. They should be obvious and give you HOURS of roleplay). And remember, everytime you ask the Prince for a favour... it is just that. A favour. A Boon. "Your Majesty, may I sire a Childe?"; "Your Majesty may I become Regent of this territory?"; "Your Majesty, I need help in defeating this foe."... all Boons. The Prince is in a position to collect a about twenty Boons a night. And if the Prince doesn't? Guess what? He's WEAK. A Prince without Boons, is a rich man without money. They look the part but have no power to back it up. Also, the Justicar and the Archons NEVER do Boons. They are above boons. They don't DO favours. They do their duty. They don't accept favours. If you help them it is because if you don't they get to hurt you. Lots. And then some. Justicars and Archons don't need Boons. They have might and the entire Camarilla backing them up.

The Law

Kindred law is based upon one simple idea. Within each Domain, the Prince has final say. End of story. The end. That's it.

Simple isn't it?

You can't win.

[Webmasters Note: And if you don't like it, that what Citizen Top and the Anarchs are for!!!]

For the record Kindred justice is NOT based upon trail by jury, the use of Aura Perception, Truth of the Bone, whatever... none of these are accepted. Station wins. The Camarilla usually does not like investigations to get to the bottom of things. Why investigate? Better to find a scapegoat... sorry, criminal Caitiff and kill them for the crime. If the crime happens again, then the Caitiff was obviously in league with someone (and NO, I am not joking about picking on Caitiff... they DESERVE it and I want players to start doing it thank you). Mind you, if in doubt, blame any Anarch/Autark... they have NO status and as such are guilty of everything!

No, it depends on the Prince, but most of the time, investigations are not carried out. And for very good reason...

Example of why Camarilla law is so unfair...

(Picture the scene; The Tremere Primogen has been found in a room with the recently killed corpse of the Ventrue Primogen. He claims he didn't do it. The Prince summons him and the entire court (this is a bad move, but we'll come back to that in a bit).

Prince: Right, you little Tremere git... did you kill the Ventrue Primogen?

Tremere: My Lord... I cannot tell a lie... nope. I had nothing to do with it.

Near-By Toreador: A-HA! Your majesty, my learned Tremere Primogen is a lying, two faced murdering git.

Tremere: You have evidence?

Toreador: I don't have to have any... I just read your aura and me and EVERYONE could see that you were lying your bloody head off...

Tremere: YOUR MAJESTY! What on Earth is going on? You've allowed a Toreador Anarch present evidence...

Toreador: WHAT!?

Prince: (Who knows where this is going and what is going to happen) My God, I think your right!

Toreador: What the hell?

Tremere: My God, a viper in our midst. I wonder, are the entire Toreador so effected...

Toreador: What the hell are you talking about?

Tremere: You Sir, you and your disregard for the Traditions and laws of the Camarilla. You and your attempt to subvert the Camarilla from within...

Toreador: I beg your pardon?

Tremere: I had given my word as a Primogen. You say you "glanced" at my aura and contradict me! You glance at my aura... you doubt my word!

Toreador: Well, of course I bloody well do, your a sneaky git! Tremere: That"s MR Sneaky Git to you sunshine! Or, rather, Lord PRIMOGEN Sneaky Git. You Sir, have decided to disregard our sacred traditions, disregard the rules that have kept the Camarilla in place for the past seven hundred years, you have taken the system of status, which unites us and binds us, and defines our place in our society, and you have thrown it out the window. You doubt my word in public... by doing so, you suggest that status is redundant. You wish to destroy it, eh?

Toreador: Er... no, that's not...

Tremere: No doubt you wish to get rid of Boons and introduce democracy as well... probably hang about with Danton don't you?

Toreador: No, now wait a minute...

Tremere: Your majesty, I insist that this criminal be staked immediately...

And like that the bad guy gets away with it! Why? BECAUSE, while murder and Diablorie are terrible crimes and while Princes and Justicars want the criminals punished, the whole thing is, THE SOCIETY IS DEADLIER! It is not based upon fairness or justice. The Tremere Primogen DID kill the Ventrue one... but the Toreador broke an even bigger rule... HE DISREGARDED STATION! The Tremere committed murder... the Toreador committed TREASON and sedition. And since his act of Treason was to say he had read the Tremere"s aura... then the very accusation is Treason, and thus the case is dropped and the Toreador gets it! (Of course, you do realise that this could lead to people like the Harpies judging and ruling cases... and that's almost right!)

Mind you, the Prince boo-booed. What they should have done is get the Person to ask the Tremere in private, and then used the Aura Reading as evidence when coming up later. The evidence would have been in beforehand, and the statement that the Primogen was lying, more acceptable. What this means is that committing a crime becomes something ANYONE can get away with... if they are smart. And bringing someone to justice is as easy as just saying the right thing at the right time. To the right person. Who cares if they did it? Who cares what their Aura says? It's about how you appear and what power you have. An Elder can make your life miserable for years... guess what? That's the whole point of the game... you gotta out nasty the nasty guy. And just think... if that Toreador in the above example had been the Primogen, not only would have the Tremere Primogen got away with the murder of the Ventrue Primogen, but the Prince would have been forced to punish the entire Toreador Clan, because the Primogen speaks for the entire Clan!

Now, some Princes may insist that they have a proper investigation. Cool. But they had better be careful. Piss off their Primogen and they may find trails dry up ("Well, Lord Sheriff, I can tell you that this Nosferatu had NOTHING to do with it? Are you doubting my word as a Primogen?" - when faced with this, the Sheriff has to back off. If the Prince objects, the Primogen can give their word again, PUBLICLY, and the Prince had better be careful about publicly saying the Primogen's a liar or else they could be on the receiving end of the Council of Princes again). Go to far that way and they may find that their fellow Princes think they are a bit loopy and get their Domain put into bad standing. Shit happens.

Something to remember as well. From now on, accusations of criminal activity against a Kindred MUST be made by those of high standing in a court. It's not enough that you get evidence against the Tremere Primogen for example, the evidence and the accusation must be made by either the Prince, the Seneschal, the Chief Harpy, the Sheriff, the Keeper of Elysium or the Primogen. Someone HAS TO stand up and make the accusation and take the blame if the accusation falls down. Henceforth anonymous tip offs and so forth are INSTANTLY discounted. Under these rules, for example, the whole "Vaniculum" episode that Finn suffered under, would never have happened. The original tip-off the Justicar received was from an unknown source. Under these rules it would be discounted (in saying this, Stella Kyle had virtually captured D.C Palmer and his trial would have led the others into being caught anyway!). The reason someone important has to bring the accusation? Well, if it goes wrong, someone important has to take the blame, at least until they pass the buck onto the little person who made the accusation in the first place.

However, one group take this whole "status is right" thing and throws it out the window. One group don't give a DAMN how much status you have... the Justicar"s. They HAVE to be though. What this can mean depends on the Archon. Archon Blackwood for example spends much of her time being cautious and precise... she likes to SOLVE crimes and get to the bottom of things. Van der Voort has been known to go up to someone and blame them... telling them that unless THEY sort out the crime, he will kill them. Such is the way of things. But the whole point to remember is this... the Archons attend when a Prince FAILS. The Prince, the so-called Lord of the Domain has screwed up and the result is that the Archons have to be sent to wet nurse the situation. The more a Prince calls upon the Office the weaker they are seen. A strong (and clever) Prince makes sure that the Justicar and the Archons NEVER turn up... after all, there is nothing to say the Justicar doesn't investigated something completely different. Remember, everytime an Archon punishes someone in a Princes Domain it is because the prince has failed in their duty. And remember another thing... if the Justicar ever turns up, it is because the Archons have failed. A BAD thing to see (when the Justicar turns up. Please remember the correct thing to do is drop to your knees and HOPE they ignore you). The moment a Justicar attends, we are immediately into the concept of Faction level politics.

Remember, the Prince of a Domain is the final judge of all things. If the Prince is to be judged, then the Justicar judges, same with the National Clan heads... and tradition has dictated that the Justicar and Archons are "advised" by a group of the offenders peers (Clan Heads or Princes)... so if the "advisors" say the prince is innocent, the Justicar lets them go. See, all nice and simple isn't it?

(Oh, and by the way... all players and St's are reminded (and I hate to remind you all but I have to) of the following... if anyone allows the sheer IC power of Princes be influenced by any OOC issues, then please stop them from doing it. I will say that if I believe that any judgement by any Prince is based on OOC motivations then I shall overturn the decision even if it means bring a PC back from the dead. In a nutshell I will NOT tolerate it, and neither should you.)

Look, the whole point of this system is to create IC rules of behaviour. These are not OOC rules. PC"s can and are expected to break them. PC"s are expected to act how the hell they like and have fun. Good. I don't care. The rules you see here are the way the "game" is played- the game being the intrigue, fear and sneakiness that generally pervades Kindred behaviour across the world. Now the rules are biased. If the character you play is the type to run around and cause shit, these rules are designed to have your character spend the entire night with everyone ignoring you before you get killed by everyone. It's just one of those things. This doesn't mean you can't get away with running around and causing shit, but it goes like this... you gotta be able to KNOW how to play the game before you can buck the rules.

These rules are here to make sure balance remains in all things. By applying strict codes of behaviour, we now have the following situation: It don't matter how strong or weak you character sheet is; it don't matter what your generation is; it don't matter what you clan is or ANYTHING. Now, if you decide to dick about you will be brought down. Got a Prince whose throwing their weight around and making your life hell. Make sure they cross the line and you can bring them down. Got a neonate whose disrupting everything? Now you can get rid of him without looking like the bad guy. In all things, please remember the golden rule... the players who win are those players who think nastier than the others, roleplay harder than the others and generally don't take part in lame plots and get caught lots. Play it straight and watch what happens. Remember, the whole thing is about how one is presented in PUBLIC. Everyone knows that Xavier Luxembourg is a sneaky bastard, who probably has broken a million laws. But in PUBLIC, he has never been found guilty of anything, so gets away with murder (sometimes literally).

This then is the Grand Unification Theory. Version One. Let's see how it goes from here. Any complaints, please pass onto YOUR St's who should pass it on to you Regional St's who should pass it onto me, or directly to me. Easy isn't it?