How do I Create a Character?

We will decide on our chronicle's tenets of humanity at our session 0.  In addition, your character has Convictions: beliefs that are very deeply held.  Your character also has Touchstones: people, places, or organizations that connect them to their Convictions.  This is true regardless of character type, but for vampires, these things help stave off the Beast.

In addition, your character has a history: the things they have done, the places they have been, family, friends, and acquaintances.  These things are free, so make it interesting.  Please don't make your character a joke, ideally they are a real three dimensional character.  That way, their descent into horror and madness is more satisfying.

• The default is to play a vampire.  This is, after all, a vampire game.  A vampire has a Sire (the vampire who created them), a Clan (the family of the Sire), a Predator Type (how they get blood), a Generation (how far removed from the original vampire the Sire is), and other details.  It is expected that most players will choose to portray a vampire.  Vampires in this game can be be between the 9th and 16th generations.  There are advantages (and disadvantages) to having stronger or weaker blood.  The 9th generation is almost Elder, while the 16th generation is almost human.
• A ghoul gains immortality, unnatural health, and some supernatural power by drinking vampire blood.  Although a ghoul does not have the immense magical abilities of a vampire, ghouls can go out in the day and do not suffer from supernatural Hunger.  In order to maintain the lifestyle, ghouls have to drink the blood of a vampire once a month.  Besides the obvious dependency, vampiric Vitae (blood) is addictive, and after three sips inflicts the Blood Bond, supernaturally induced obsession that simulates love - or slavery.
• Humans are exactly that.  They have no supernatural abilities or weaknesses of any kind.  In order to play a human in vampire society, work with the Storytellers to decide why this character is an exception to the Masquerade (vampire secrecy). Or perhaps the character is a hunter who seeks to cleanse the world of vampires (warning: playing  a hunter is hard mode). 

• Generation is the number of steps you are removed from the original vampire.  Player characters are between generation 9 and 16.  We have added some mechanical benefits and drawbacks to make the choice more interesting. 
• Generations 9, 10, and 11 are called Ancillae.  They are not quite as powerful as the most respected vampires, but are working on it.  We encourage everyone to complete a detailed written character background and are offering 5 bonus XP for it.  To play an Ancilla, you MUST complete one that explains your character's politics, lineage, and role in society.  All these Kindred begin with the Status Moniker Acknowledged or Accepted. 9th and 10th generation Kindred also begin with an additional Moniker of the player's choice.  A 9th generation Kindred also begins with Blood Potency 2 (and must pay the 20XP for it from the starting pool - it isn't a freebie). 11th generation Kindred are the youngest Ancillae  and are in Competition with both more respected Kindred of their cohort and with the Neonates.  They begin with an additional dot in Attributes and an additional dot in Skills.
• Generations 12 and 13 are more numerous and are called Neonates.  They are the newer and younger vampires.  As such, they are generally considered more in touch with humanity, technology, and pop culture.  On the other hand, their blood is not as potent, and they are not as respected within their Clan and sect. A 12th generation vampire receives 5 additional dots in background.  A 13th generation vampire receives 7 additional dots.  These dots must relate to mortal society.  
• Generations 14, 15, and 16 are Thin Bloods, also known as the Duskborn.  Their Clan is always Caitiff.  There are old prophecies that say they are harbingers of the end of days.  Older vampires consider them barely members of the same kind.  Some Elders kill them on site, while others brand their hands with a crescent moon for identification.  The current Prince of Indianapolis is fairly tolerant of them, but they are marginal members of vampire society. They are very attuned to human society, and according to their detractors that is because they are basically humans.  All Duskborn receive 3 dots of the Mask background and an additional 4 extra dots of any background.  A 14th generation vampire takes one thin-blood merit and a thin-blood flaw.  A 15th generation vampire takes two.  A 16th generation vampire takes three.

• A ghoul's Domitor is the vampire who primarily donates Vitae (blood) to the ghoul.  A ghoul could have one or multiple Domitors and they could be PCs or NPCs (talk to the STs about NPC options).  Vitae is both addictive and magically binding. After three sips from the same source, a ghoul is generally fully Blood Bound. All ghouls are at least one step bound. These bonds generally fade after a year.  However, ghoul nature fades after a mere month.  That might be a more gentle addiction than the one vampires suffer, but it is absolutely a dependency. In addition to deciding how bound they are, ghoul characters need to decide how old they are.  Being a ghoul confers the end to aging along with a portion of the Domitor's powers of the blood. 

• That isn't a trick question.  There are many valid reasons to seek out the company of vampires.  Maybe you want to learn their secrets as a scientist or occultist. Maybe you want to rid the world of monsters as a hunter. Maybe you want to rob them of their considerable wealth.  Whatever the reason, you will quickly discover that they are incredibly dangerous.  So why do you persist?

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