"If you give your players fleshed out, working models of political systems and let them manipulate those systems, they will worship you always. OK, maybe not worship, but they will greatly appreciate the effort you put into the game. You can give them the experience of learning to play the manipulators game: exulting when their plans work out, and paying the price when their plots fail... So the question is, how do you provide a consistent, workable framework for your players? It must be clear enough so your players can find a way in, but not so transparent that there are no surprises. It must be flexible enough to allow real manipulation, but not so flimsy that the players gain complete control over it and always get their own way. The secret is in agreements: small deals and large compacts. Dealmaking is the heart and soul of political systems and Vampire is no exception."

-Vampire: The Storytellers Handbook (First Edition). Page 62.

This is it. An attempt to bring the entire Camarilla into a cohesive background between campaigns with one swoop of the keyboard. The deal is simple... everyone runs their own game their own way. Cool. But this is the Universal stuff... these are the In-Character RULES that govern In-Character behaviour. I keep saying that old saying... "Kindred may be deadly, but their society is deadlier". Well, this is it. This is the political system that everyone has to contend with. These are the black and white rules that they have to follow. Read, think and beware... go wrong here and you die. What these rules are, by the way, are the genuine way for each and every PC, be they a 14th Generation Catiff, can take down even the most powerful Elder. So, say goodbye to characters that throw their weight around like no tomorrow... they could find themselves dead quicker than you can say 'The Camarilla kicks ass!". And may the most sneaky bastard win...

Station: Who You Are And What That Means.

Now, while we are dealing with the status problems (some games are more generous on status than others), we have a quick way around all this. Station. Yes, this goes out to all those Primogen, Princes, National Clan Heads, Seneschals whatever out there... these are the rules for controlling them. You play a new bog standard 13th Generation PC? Reckon with your sheet you can"t compete with the players whose characters have been around for a while? No more me dears, read on, read well, and study hard. This is the way that ALL PCs and NP's are brought under line.

Let's face it everyone KNOWS everyone else is up to something. We know it. And the truth is, they ARE up to something. The whole trick is for you to get away with your something, while discovering what the other persons up to. Then when you discover their little secret, you can expose them as the criminal they really are. Easy isn't it? Well, not quite...

When it comes to accusations and other stuff, the following rules apply. The Primogen of a Clan speaks and acts for the entire Clan in a Domain. In other words, if the Nosferatu Primogen of Sheffield is caught trying to overthrow the Prince, then the entire Clan in Sheffield is assumed to be trying to overthrow the Prince. If the Brujah Primogen of Manchester calls the Malkavians a "bunch of traitors to the Camarilla" then it is assumed that ALL Brujah in Manchester think the same thing. This can lead to those under the jurisdiction of the Primogen to get it in the neck for the actions of their Primogen. So the Clan should KNOW what their Primogen is thinking and doing at all times... after all, they may find themselves reduced in status, their havens burned to the ground and facing charges of treason, all because their Primogen said the wrong thing at the wrong time... (in fact, since Prince's CAN'T remove Primogen, a clever Prince will punish a Primogen by making life hell for his Clan, thus making them change their Primogen).

Clan Heads have a much more dangerous game here. Each Clan Head speaks for his or her ENTIRE Clan in the country. They have got to be SO careful about how they act and what they say and do. They could say something in one part of the country, only to find that members of their clan are punished in another part of the country for what they said. The Clan head answers to their Clans Primogen, so it is up to them and the Princes of the Clan to make sure they all know what the Clan Head is up to.

This creates the situation where the Clan Heads have vast amounts of power- they can call a confidence vote on a Primogen; they can hob nob with the great and the good; but they are also the ones upon which the most constraints are placed. A Clan Head can accuse someone of anything... but they have to be VERY careful, because if they go wrong the entire Clan suffers Harpies are roughly the same. The Chief Harpy speaks for all a Domains Harpies, so if they make a biting comment about a certain Primogen and get it wrong, the rest of the Harpies can suffer and lose face... unless they make it clear that they ALL back up the Chief Harpy, and then, who CARES if the Chief Harpy got it wrong. The Harpies so obviously dislike the Primogen... best not side with him, eh?

In the same respect the Royal Harpy is suppose to speak for all Harpies in Britain. But since all Harpies do is JUDGE, then this is not as important. Harpies are by their very nature, REACTIVE, not PROACTIVE. A Harpy sits and judges and watches... ones that go out and causes shit soon find themselves in trouble (and no longer Harpies).

Princes are a lot more free to speak. They are Prince and they hold power. If the Prince of Manchester insults Malkavians, one does not assume that all residents of the Domain do. BUT... Princes are judged far more harshly on their actions. These are the big fish, and as such they get treated a lot more brutally than the little fish (two Kindred commit the same crime- one, a neonate is staked and tortured and then released... the other is slowly and savagely killed Why? Because the second Kindred is a Prince and should KNOW BETTER!). The Prince is judged by two things- the Council of Princes and the Royal Court of the Harpies. Either can take down a Prince... more on this later.

Politics: Painful but Nessesary

Politics in the Camarilla is graded in concentric circles. Each one leads into the other, moving up in terms of power and importance. Each level brings you more danger and new and more subtle foes. While you may be an expert at one level, entering the next level is usually VERY dangerous indeed. The grades go...

Clan - Court - Prince - Council - Faction - Foreign

Clan

This is the most common level of intrigue. Most characters will be happy here. At this level is the never ending struggles between Primogen and Clan members; the Primogen speaks for their clan... does everyone in the Clan agree with them? Do they trust their Primogen? Each new member of the Clan changes the political structure of the Clan. It is amazing just how much intrigue can be had just within any one Clan.

Court

Court intrigue is the realm of most games. The interaction between Kindred in their court (they may travel to other Domains and interact there). Primogen against Primogen, Clan against Clan, with the Harpies sitting and watching it all. This is the most common level you will find.

Prince

One up, and very close is the level of Princely intrigue. This is where you get to play power games with the Prince; perhaps you a behind the scenes aid for the Prince, doing secret missions and stuff; of maybe you are secretly trying to bring them down. But when you play with a Prince, you gotta remember... they have the power to just kill you out of hand. And perhaps the Prince isn't the real danger. Whose to say that the little Toreador you've been dissing for months isn't the secret power behind the Prince? Getting to this level is dangerous to say the least.

Council

At Council level, the intrigue is now at national level. Welcome to the Council of Princes... the game here moves up a gear. Want to play this game? Better know the rules! This is when things get seriously deadly and seriously dangerous. Some of the Princes here have had YEARS of experience and only the saintly, the sneaky or the lucky make it.

Faction

Get to the Faction level and you are doing REAL well; the faction level represents the large political factions of the Camarilla- Clan Heads, Elders, Court of Lilith, Pax Londinium, etc. These are the POWERS behind the Camarilla, and if you wanna play their games be ready for a big fall. This is without the most complicated level of intrigue around- the games here can get someone killed VERY easily. VERY. This is where one can meet the Justicar at times... this is the scary level.

Foreign

OK, now we are getting silly. Several players have began to interact with international Camarilla players as far away as Australia in some cases, but the level we are talking about here is the real BIG Elders. International Clan Heads, whose games are intricate and hard to fathom. This level is the realm of the Justicars, the Jyhads of the Ancients and the occasional mysterious Methuselah. So, going back to what we were saying, about how the political system works, lets look at three examples of it in action.

Example One (Clan Level going into Court Level)

Billy the Brand New Brujah, is 13th Generation and newly arrived in his Domain. After being introduced to his Prince, Billy settles down to a life of walking around, shouting and being very Brujah. Then after a few months Billy discovers that his Primogen is trying to topple the Prince. "Well," thinks Billy," the rest of the Clan seems behind the Primogen, so I guess we had better stick together!". As time passes Billy begins to get worried. The Prince is VERY old and VERY powerful and it would take a lot to take him down. Billy worries that if the Primogen fails, the Primogen will get away with it and the little people will suffer the most. SO he confides with Bunty the Buxom Brujah, only to find she feels the same way, as do a couple of others within the Clan. What to do, what to do?

Billy has a talk with Bunty and he makes up his mind. He tells the Prince all he knows, stressing that the rest of the Clan don't agree with the Primogen at all, but he IS their Primogen so what could they do... The Prince is very happy to hear all this and promptly kills the old Brujah Primogen.

The Harpies react to all this by removing some of Billy"s status (after all, no one likes a rat), but Billy don't mind. Bunty is elected the new Primogen and she makes Billy Clan Whip- and gives him some status for what he did...

Example Two (Court Level going up to Council Level)

Nathan the Nosferatu Primogen is a very happy little soul. His Clan members in his Domain are VERY loyal and he spends much of his time running around either his or near by domains, selling secrets and having fun. One night, while visiting a distant Domain, he discovers that there is a Plot to topple the Prince of that Domain. Nathan has a think and then goes to the Prince... he negotiates with this Prince information on who is after him, in return for a boon. They agree upon a level two boon. The Prince foils the plot and everything is hunky dory.

Nathan in the meantime then returns back to his home Domain and goes to see his Prince... he offers the two point boon on the first Prince in return for a three point boon. His Prince hates the first Prince and agrees, so his Prince has a two point Boon over the other Prince and Nathan now has a three point boon over his Prince.

Tine passes and Nathan goes to collect... and his Prince says no. So Nathan runs to the Royal Harpy and has a whinge, and the Harpies ALL whinge. The Prince loses face and the Domain falls into bad standing (see later). Nathan then has a word with his fellow Primogen and they get rid of the Prince and a new Prince takes over... Nathan of course!

Example Three (Council to Faction level)

Ventrue prince of small Domain in the south. They are sitting there, ruling all quiet like when they discover that the Malkavian Primogen of their Domain is plotting to have the Tremere Primogen killed. Being a sneaky little Ventrue Prince they decide not to interfere, until the Malkavian Primogen says the wrong thing at the wrong time (they insulted the Tremere Primogen and said something like, "We Malkavains should kill the Tremere"). Because the Malkavian is Primogen, and speaks for the whole Clan, the Tremere Primogen goes to the Prince and complains that they have just started an Inter Clan War in the Domain. While the prince dislikes the Tremere Primogen a LOT, she also knows that the Tremere Primogen has them over a barrel, so HAS to act. (If he doesn't act, then the Tremere Primogen can get the Prince into trouble and potentially the Domain into Bad Standing). The Prince arrests several Malkavians and "corrects" the Malkavain Primogen (this Prince is a big believer in corporal punishment and has him flogged). The Malkavian Primogen then goes to their clan Head complaining, and the Malkavian Clan Head flies off the handle and says some damn inflammatory things about the Prince...

At the next Maelstrom social gathering ( a ball in Scotland) the Prince sends a petition to the Royal Court of Harpies who judge that the Clan Head of the Malkavians acted rashly and indeed OVER reacted, and they pass harsh judgement upon the Clan Malkavians (because after all, the Clan Head speaks for the whole Clan...). Within a month, the Malkavians around the country find themselves the subject to several blood hunts, and on the receiving end of several nasty little Jyhads because of the Royal Courts judgement, and they soon conspire to topple their Clan Head. At the next social gathering, the Clan Head of the Malkavians finds themselves in an impossible situation- they could either ask for forgiveness of the original Prince (which means that the ENTIRE Clan, through the Clan Head, would be asking for forgiveness) of face the music from an angry Clan. In the end, the Clan Head falls, and the new Clan Head has no choice but to accept the judgement of the original Prince who decides that for causing all the trouble in the first place, the original Malkavian Primogen should be executed.

As you can see, the system we have is based upon one where who you are decides what you can or cannot do; what you can or cannot say. Little people, who hold not station have NO political power, but they have a lot more free reign than say, a Prince, who while they may like it on the top, soon find that they are limited in what they do.

Two examples of this- the former Lady Prince of London. She went around bossing everyone and overstepping her limits and as such had the Justicar come down upon her. Prince Finn of Stoke was well respected and admired... but the moment he stepped up to Council level, he found himself assailed by various Jyhads from around the country... before falling prey to a single plot based totally in the Court level but mistakenly taken to Prince and Council level.

Remember, the Justicar is outside the whole politics/boons/ politics game. That is why the Justicar is such a double edged sword. She follows separate rules from everyone else. That's why NOBODY and I mean NOBODY, ever wants the Justicar to turn up... EVER!

Game Interaction.

The power of the Camarilla is the power of inter-game interaction. The fact that you can travel around games all over the country is one of the best things about the Campaign. But inter-game strife can and does cause conflict and intrigue. What is needed is a clear set of rules governing how this should be run. So this follows now...

The golden rule is this: TRAVEL to another Domain and you are under that Domains rules and laws. Taking things into you own hands is BAD, BAD, BAD. Let me make this clear, if you travel with a bunch of mates to another game and while you are there one of the home players tries to Dominate you in order to make you do something nasty, and you respond by braining him... then YOU are in the wrong. Always. I don't care if you just discovered that someone is a diablorist who killed your mother, the moment you take the law into your own hands for anything other than immediate self defence, then you're the criminal. The correct response is to go to the prince or the Sheriff and TELL THEM! (Or even better, invite the SOB back to your Domain and then brain them!)

If you visit another Domain, make sure you know the laws. Ignorance is NO defence. Remember, all visitors reflect upon the Prince of THEIR Domain. Sometimes we hear of visiting players causing uproar in a game, only to return and go... "We think we did nothing wrong, so what do we care?" Well, that won't hold water anymore. If you upset the locals the Problem now falls to YOUR Prince. Unless the Prince deals with it, it becomes a VERY serious matter (see later). If you go elsewhere and break the rules, you bring shame upon your Prince. You Prince may love you or may hate you, but the moment you mess up... you get the blame, but SO DO THEY!

Now a good Prince doesn't want his fellow Princes to suffer under the shame of such a criminals, now do they (fake smile), so they could just execute them then and there to spare their fellow Prince... or they could just look to the Prince to punish the offender when they get home.

If the Prince then does NOT punish the offender/offenders, then they could become a Domain of Bad Standing".

Domains of Bad Standing

This is a BIG thing. Read up carefully.

A Domain is judged by it's fellow Domains. Princes are judged by fellow Princes. The worst thing that can happen is to be called a "Domain of Bad Standing". When this happens the following rules take over:

- All Kindred from that Domain are distrusted (down two Social Traits against those NOT off that Domain).

- No other Domain is under any obligation to help the offending Domain... or in other words. "I don't care if you have 50 Sabbat in your city, better to get you all killed, then to allow the poison there to spread!"

- All Alliances, deals and whatever done with the offending Domain are now null and void.

- All boons made with Kindred from that Domain are now null and void.

- Residents are made unwelcome in other Domains.

- The Primogen may topple their Prince, not if all seven decide, but rather, if a simple majority vote them out (hey, could you distribute the "How to topple your Prince" rules from Albion II as well- Thanx!).

As you can see, being a Domain of bad standing means increased political instability and the Kindred from there being treated like shit. This is how it is meant to be. Remember to gain bad standing is because the PRINCE has not acted in a manner expected by their peers. The whole point is to create an atmosphere where the Princes subjects are treated like crap, and when they complain, Cainites can look at them and say, "Well, I know it's not YOUR fault... take it up with your Prince. Your suffering for HIS mistake!"

Hopefully, this will create a situation of instability and upset and the Prince will be forced to make it up to the other Princes before some sneaky resident player in his game decides that they should topple the Prince (which is now a MUCH easier situation to do). So, let us go back to our former example... the Residents of Domain A (let's say they are Brujah) turn up at Domain B and cause shit. The Prince of Domain B can't kill them (they are too powerful) so decides to complain formally to the Prince of Domain A. Now the Prince of Domain A had better "punish" the visitors who caused the trouble. If they don't a few months later Domain A gets into bad standing... but imagine if the Prince of Domain A either doesn't want to punish them or maybe is too politically weak to punish them. What to do? Simple, a clever Prince simply orders their Primogen to deal with the members of the Clan. Having done that, they can turn to Prince B and say "Well, I've done my duty!" and it becomes the Primogens problem. If the Primogen then doesn't act Prince A can either complain to the Primogen's clan head or punish the Primogen ("Yes, I know you love your Primogen, but he"s dying so you can live... it's your fault I'm afraid!")

There may be a situation where Prince A believes that Prince B is making a big song and dance over nothing, that his Kindred are NOT guilty of anything. If this is the case, then when Prince B objects, Prince A can simply call a Tribunal. A Tribunal is the event when two Domains are in conflict with each other. It is treated with great pomp and circumstance. When it is called, three Princes sit while the two sides present their cases. Over the years Tribunals have become almost festivals amongst themselves... any Kindred may attend. The two Princes lead delegations of their own and there then follows an open ten minutes where the two sides present their cases (limited to ten minutes I will say after the Tribunal between Milan and Pisa in 1863 which lasted 7 weeks!). During that ten minutes each side tries to get as much information across as possible. There is frequent heckling whenever someone starts talking to long and several Princes have been known to trade insults over who has the right to speak (much to the amusement of the spectators who come to watch). After the ten minutes are over the three Princes judging the case confide in each other for a few minutes and then decide who has won. The ten minute rule has meant that the more clued up Princes have made sure that all their evidence is presented BEFORE the Tribunal and just use the ten minutes to trade insults and look smarmy! The Tribunal's decision, if it is based upon political issues or behavioural issues is final, while if it is based upon a legal issue, the losing Prince may appeal to the Justicar (NOT a good idea, honestly!). Remember, a Tribunal is NOT a trial. It is not a legal system. Common offenders may NOT go to trail at a Tribunal. A Tribunal is no more that a way of having two Domains sort out their rows without the need to go to war (which is illegal nowadays... sigh! Not like the old days, eh! Back in the 1500"s a neighbouring Prince pissed you off and you could send in the ghouls and burn and pillage...)

Just to clarify. If a Domain is causing shit, the fellow Princes get together at the Council of Princes and place that Domain in Bad Standing. The rules take effect. If that Prince objects (naturally) or more importantly, if that Prince WAS NOT THERE, a Tribunal may be heard, either that night or as soon as possible. The Domain will be in bad standing until the offending Prince fulfils the demands that led to the bad standing, is toppled, killed, or the Council decide to bring it to an end.

This places much more importance upon the Council of Princes. The Council is the Highest Political body in the UK (actually it's the SECOND highest, but we'll come to that later). It is at the Council gatherings that differences are settled, old scores paid off, complaints heard, common policy agreed upon... in short it is the way that Princes get to interact, backstab and generally have fun at each others expense. But like all things, the Council follows rules... rules, rules and more rules...

So there then are the rules...

- The Council can only meet at Maelstrom gatherings (Balls my dear, balls...) or with two months warning.

- The Agenda must be made clear ahead of time, to allow those Kindred who are not Princes to try and get their voices heard (usually by the tried and tested method of moaning at their Prince... this doesn't always work (the Prince can decide whatever way they want) but you never know. Certain Councils will interest people not one jot... others will have people clamouring to have their voice heard.

- If Princes cannot attend for whatever reason they may send a Representative.

- Within the Council all Princes are equal. Each has one "vote" on issues (after all, the Camarilla is ruled by Princes, not Kings or Queens... by the way, this is NOT democracy... nobody elected them to get here (at least so the theory goes). This is based more on the old Imperial Diets of the Holy Roman Empire back in the 16th Century.

- The Council decides all Political issues (i.e. should we bloodhunt all Setites!). The Council may decide upon legal matters (i.e. should the use of Dominate inside an Elysium be seen as a violation of Elysium?) and the Justicar will back them up, PROVIDED the laws do not deviate from the Traditions (this is an IC concession won from the last Justicar).

- There has to be a minimum of seven Princes/Representatives there for it to be quorate. Representatives of Princes can be ANYONE from their home Domain, but they must uphold the following laws...

- The Representative must be agreed by the Prince who is sending them. Proof is required (either an IC letter or an OOC letter/phonecall).

- The St's involved must know what is going on.

- The Representative can speak and vote on issues but must be remembered that they are not a Prince and therefore MUST show respect.

- Those that don't show respect can be ejected, and could even get their home Domain into trouble (bad standing time again!)

- The Representatives can be asked to leave the Council if a matter of EXTREME sensitivity comes up (existence of about 400 Sabbat, which the Justicar wishes to keep secret for example).

- If there are more Representatives than Princes then the decisions made at that Council must be ratified at the next Council.

I said the Council of Princes is the Second Highest body in Britain. That's correct. The Highest is the Council of Clans. This meets whenever the seven Clan Heads arrange it (basically in order for a PROPER meeting to be held, ALL seven members of the Council must be present... so much as one is missing, then it is not quorate and has no power). The Council of Clans is made up of the Seven Clan heads (and yes, I mean seven and SEVEN only... those Clans who have north and south Clan heads begin to get backstabbing... only ONE Kindred can sit upon the Council of Clans and NO representatives can attend in their place!), and basically it has the power to do just about anything... within the UK it is answerable to nothing but the Inner Circle of the Camarilla in Vienna (actually, we hope that at sometime in the future we will have a European Council of Clans which will be over it) but in the end, with the exception of changing the Traditions and acting against the Justicar (who does NOT answer to the Council of Clans, only to the Camarilla"s Inner Circle), it can declare kinda anything it wants. Full stop. These are the seven leaders of the seven Clans. Go figure!

The Other Six...

Ah, but what about the other Clans, I hear you ask? What about them? Well, the answer, in a nutshell, is simple... fuck "em! They should have joined when they could have.

The relationships between Clan Heads and their Clan members is complex. By rights the Clan Head is accepted as the absolute Elder of the entire Clan in Britain (in station if not in generation) and all must defer to them. The Primogen are meant to be the regional heads of the Clan- all Primogen report to their Clan Head and it is they who keep the Clan Head accountable and not blowing g it for the rest of them. Things are complicated when you bring Princes into the equation. While the Clan Head holds power over the Clan (power of blood), a Prince holds the political power and as such can at times be out of their control. For example, the Gangrel Clan Head decides to declare war against the Brujah. They order all Gangrel to attack Brujah outside of Elysium. The Gangrel Princes, however, know that if THEY followed this order up then they would be killed (you cannot bloodhunt an entire Clan); they are now placed in a VERY difficult situation- if they follow the orders, they are dead. If they don't, they are ignoring the orders of their Clan Head. The most common decision in this case is for the Clan Head to find that they are soon out of a job... while Princes supposedly defer to their Clan Heads, the reality is that Princes are the political giants of Clan Politics and can easily step in or out of Clan Politics. They may be Gangrel, but they are a PRINCE and have political powers accordingly.

Boons

'The boon system has created a race of beings who owe loyalty to leaders they do not respect and would often gladly tear down. Unlike human political factions, which are often designed to promote inspirational leadership based upon trust, Cainite political systems promote treacherous leadership based on fear. Betrayals are common in the Camarilla, as are reprisals for betrayal."

-Storyteller's Handbook, First Edition. Page 66.

The most important thing to remember is that Boons are the currency of the Kindred. If no one owes you a Boon, then you are broke. Remember that. But let's get things into some kind of scale. 90% of Boons should be between level's one to three. Rank Four Boons should be RARE! And as for Life Boons... Life Boons should be like Diamonds. When you have a Life Boon, you OWN them. It's not nice!