Without a doubt, isolation and the attitudes and practices spawned by it have resulted in the current forms of vampiric government, culture and society. While humanity has developed enormous countries, world-spanning faiths, multi-national cultures and even the tentative beginnings of what might one day grow into a world community, the Kindred have been left behind, as unchanging as they are undying. Exceptions certainly exist, but for the most part, when it comes to government and sociological development, the Kindred never left — or at the very least, have returned to — far more primitive times.
- No Kindred domain is governed exactly like any other, but the vast majority of them resemble the feudal nations of ages past. This doesn’t mean that the Kindred ignore modern conveniences or dress like the cast of a Shakespearean tragedy. It does mean that their power structure is usually hierarchical and largely inviolate.
A domain is a “government” in which anyone strong enough to take and hold power is, by default, entitled to it. In most cases, this is a single vampire, usually one of the eldest and most powerful in the city. The standard term for the Kindred who rules a given domain is gender-neutral “Prince,” though many choose alternate titles that more accurately reflect their personalities and styles of rule. A few cities are ruled by allied groups of Kindred, and an even smaller number actually attempt to emulate more modern political styles of governing, but these cities are by far the exception, not the rule.
By and large, the Kindred have no choice but to accept the dictates and leadership of a given Prince, no matter how tyrannical his reign is or odious his laws are. After all, what are the other options? Petition for help? To whom? No higher authority exists. Overthrow the regime? Odds are, no single faction in the city has the strength to wrest power from the Prince, else it would have happened already. One might be able to rally several different factions, multiple powerful elders or simply a great portion of the Kindred population behind the goal, but for this tactic to work a great many Kindred with their own ambitions and fears must put aside their differences and work together. This simply doesn’t happen often enough to provide much hope. The only way such is likely to occur is if the Prince is so truly horrible and abusive that nearly every vampire in the city believes that she has something to gain by ousting him. Sometimes a single powerful elder does succeed in scheming her way to authority, ousting a weaker Prince in the process, but doing so requires years of machinations, numerous alliances and many decades of experience.
So if no appeal is available and revolution is unlikely to succeed, what’s left? Leave the city, begin anew somewhere else? The Kindred are acutely aware of the hazards of that course of action. For the great majority of Kindred, the only way to survive is to keep one’s head down, grin and bear the current Prince no matter how awful he is, and hope one night to accumulate enough personal power and influence to take steps at that time.
Many domains take the feudal model further still. One way the Prince has of both mollifying the other elders and delegating responsibility is by parceling out portions of his city and granting them to other Kindred as personal feeding grounds. Only a very few Princes parcel off an entire city. Most focus only on the best areas: downtown, specific slums, hospital districts, club and bar areas. (In many cities, an area of this sort is called the Rack.) If the Prince grants such a territory to an elder, that elder then decides who, if anyone, may feed there. This grants the elder substantial power, as many Kindred rely on Racks for easy feeding. If they wish to continue hunting in those areas, they must offer favors or concessions to the current landholder. Of course, some Kindred choose to ignore the fact that the territory is no longer open. Many get away with it, but a vampire caught poaching on another’s territory can be taken before the Prince and judged as a criminal.
Vampire Glossary
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