I'm going to start with some elements that are common to all vampires. First off, you died. Dead. Life flashed before your eyes, light-at-the-end-of-the tunnel kind of thing. No matter who you were or how strong willed you are, the very first thing that happens to you is that someone faster stronger and nastier stuck his teeth in your neck, and drank your blood until you DIED. That is not a good way to start out the rest of your existence. Then, just when you're getting used to this whole dead thing, as your soul is leaving your body, and you're pretty much resigned to heading off to your eternal reward, some nastyass bastard comes along and yanks you back. Unh-uh, no afterlife for you, buddy. You're going to spend the rest of your existence right here, in this body. This DEAD body. That's right, dead. Your body is dead. The only thing that keeps it moving is the poor bastard stuck in it. Namely you. This is an experience to cause problems in the most stable personalities. How's your night so far?

Night. What's it like never having any choice regarding when you'll sleep? As soon as the sun edges the horizon, boom, out like a light. You don't know what hit you and you stay like that until the sun is down. Oh, sure, if you really exert yourself, you might stay up for 10 or 15 minutes, but it leaves you drained for at least the next week. And what's the point really, you're groggy and can't make a coherent thought if your life depends on it, and oh yeah, don't get caught in that sunbeam. Vampires are slightly more combustible than gasoline. And harder to put out too. Something to do with drying out and not decomposing. Most likely you will never see another sunrise, and if you do it will be through a wall of fire spawned from your own flesh. Maybe you like the night and don't think you'll miss the day, thats great; but opening a bank account, purchasing a house or concucting any other primarily day time business can be a real pain in the ass now. Well thats what ghouls are for, the mortal servants of vampires. But then, tending to the needs and concerns of ghouls can be almost as much a pain in the ass.

Have you ever been hungry? I mean really hungry? Like haven't eaten in the last two days. Nothing at all? Then you know how hungry a vampire is right after feeding. Now, have you ever been starving? I mean literally, 'dying from lack of nutrition' starving? So hungry that your moral conviction and self control go out the window just to obtain a morsel of food? That doesn't even touch the hunger, of a vampire who is low on blood.

Do you believe in God? In Hell? Eternal salvation and damnation? Because your character does. Or should. Because in the World of Darkness, God exists, cursed Longinus and all his progeny to eternal damnation. And somewhere deep down in your characters soul, he knows it. And then there's that whole Beast thing. You have this growling, out of control monster in the back of your brain, that can only process information in one of three ways; eat it, kill it, or run from it. And the really neat thing is that the older you get, the stronger it gets, until eventually you go stark raving mad and get put down like a rabid dog. Wow, eternity's just rockin' so far eh?

Have you ever noticed that in any group of people mostly 30 or older, the conversation will eventually move towards "I remember when...", reminiscing about the good old days, and how much better things used to be? Many vampires are significantly more than 50 years old. Most of the kindred don't like the way the world has changed, they may judge you to social standards from a culture and time you are totally unfamiliar with. Now some people don't have too much of a problem with that, they're expecting that, they steel themselves for that, but then they turn around and get floored by the fact that their favorite band is doing a comeback tour, and some of them are over 50 years old! And you still look 23. You cannot prepare yourself for the world moving on without you. Your mind is built to grow old with the world around it, and keeps getting clotheslined every time it notices the world moving on without it. Because, and here's the real slap in the face, you're dead, and just too active to realize it. People and times will change, but you won't! Get it? No matter how up to date you keep yourself, or how fast a learner you are, you are still the person you were when you died, and will stay that person for the remainder of your unnatural life. Basically, you stop truly evolving and growing, and start reacting. You also get to look forward to any mortal friends, family, kids, great-great-grandkids, anyone you ever meet, growing old and dying.

Well, now that we've battered you about with all these personal issues you're struggling with, it's about time to introduce you to other vampires. I bet you just can't wait.....

So, the World of Darkness being what it is, you've got an eternity of looking forward to things progressively getting worse. OK, so this doesn't seem like such a big deal to you so far... well, there's one other drawback to the whole immortality thing...boredom. That's right, boredom. Everybody gets bored now and then, but that's in your ordinary lifetime, with all kinds of distractions like raising a family, or growing old, and all sorts of living to keep you busy, but you don't have those distractions. It's going to be a constant struggle, just to remain interested in existing. Kindred have any number of ways to occupy their endless nights. Some take up mortal interests, shepherding and tending their human playthings. Others dwell inward expressing themselves through art, business or debauchery. But most I'd say turn to the old fall back of power, not easily achieved in the social structure.

You move a society of vampires, a political and social system. Its chief purpose is to maintain control for the elders and to enforce the Traditions. There are currently Five Clans and Five Covenants. The Clans are Clan Ventrue, Clan Daeva, Clan Mekhet, Clan Gangrel, and Clan Nosferatu. The Covenants are the Invictus, the Lancea Sanctum, the Ordo Dracul, the Circle of the Crone, and the Carthians. The majority of control and politics takes place at the city (or domain) level, and Princes are the highest authority. These are the positions that make up the city:

The Prince: The Boss. The Prince. Who rules over a domain. Which is an area defined only by how much that Kindred can control. The one with the power. Somebody so powerful, tough, smart and ruthless that he or she is on top. Basically, this guy makes the rules, enforces the rules, and breaks the rules. Don't kid yourself about Primogen-run cities, or anything like that; Vampiric society is a dictatorship at the city level. Unless you're the guy in charge, you've only got as much power as he gives you. And you're still here because he doesn't want you dead. Pretty straight forward, right? Kiss the Big Ass and you're doing ok. ENNGH! Wrong answer. Which is not to say that kissing the big ass is not a good thing, it just means that when it comes to Vampires, NOTHING is simple. For one thing, the big ass is going to be smarter than you. And is going to utterly ignore your ass-kissing until and unless he has some kind of use for you. Or unless he owes you. Or owes someone else. Or has some other reason that never becomes clear until 15 years after it's relevant. Machiavelli has nothing on these guys. The mafia, the tongs, the FBI, every organization in the world that is devoted to sneaky underhanded screwing of the other guys and utter paranoia is being completely manipulated by vampires. This should tell you something. That fact that these sneaky and paranoid groups don't know about it should tell you more. And these people are the society you are now moving in. Let's look at some of the things we talked about for you, and apply it to them for a moment. They're dead. They're predators. They're paranoid. They've all got a beast. They're all BORED!!! And you, the new guy shows up. Who's he working for? How easy a prey would he make? What am I going to do for the next three years? Let's play with the new guy; that should take up some time.

The Primogen: The Primogen are the advisors to the prince. They are usually the oldest and most respected kindred within their clan. What they are capable of and how they are appointed/elected is directly the result of the relationship between themselves and the Prince.

The Seneschal: Appointed by the Prince, the Seneschal is basically the vice-prince, who takes charge of the city in the Prince's absense.

The Sheriff: Appointed by the Prince. The enforcer of the Traditions and the Princes will.

The Master of Elysium: Appointed by the Prince. The Keeper of Elysium punishes those who break or endanger the Masquerade.

The Hound: Appointed by the Prince. The Hound rids the city of Kindred unwanted by the Prince.

The Harpy: Recognized by the Primogen as the person most capable of judging the status and system of boons and prestation within the domain. The Harpy acts in parallel with the Prince to determine Status. In some cities, the Harpy and the Prince work together. In others, they work at separate ends.

Is all this starting to make you wonder if you can cut it? Let's start with one basic fact. You are not paranoid enough. You didn't check in your closet last Thursday for an assassin. Don't worry, he was only supposed to kill you if you had the letter in your apartment. What letter? Oh, you are so dead. Discounting for a moment, the mortals (you know, the ones that will, if they find out about you, start another crusade and give you a suntan) and they are not easily set aside, let's look at vampires. If they have survived, paranoia is instinctive. They are predators and they are bored predators. You are a toy. If you're really good, and fight back, you will advanced to the status of interesting toy. And they have had years of experience at this. Centuries for some of them. And if you're trying to strike back, they are likely to be prepared. Never ever believe anything anyone tells you. Never ever trust anyone. When you got sired you just became your only friend. And you can't even trust yourself. (more on that later) Plans within plans within plans. The truth is out there? Forget it, the truth doesn't exist. Scully and Mulder wouldn't last a month in vampiric society. Life's hard, death's harder. But don't worry, if you're not dead, then someone, somewhere thinks you're useful enough to not be worth the effort of killing. If there are any absolutes about the World of Darkness, it's that there is always, always, always, ALWAYS somebody out there who can beat you 10 for 10. If you're the biggest fish in the pond, then you find out there's a lake. If you're the biggest fish in the lake, there's an ocean. If you're the biggest fish in the ocean, then some bastard is shooting at you with harpoons, and selling you as dog food.

Congratulations, you are now a creature of the night......stronger, faster, more powerful than any ordinary mortal. You have the power to cloud men's minds, women swoon and hearts beat faster in your dark presence...The very blood is yours to command with dark rituals, mere mortals cannot help but obey your commands, their lives are yours to play with.....what? What was that? Whaddya mean this stuff works on me too???? Yup, that's right. Every time you learn a vampiric power, you learn about something someone else can do better. You can tear apart a car in minutes with your bare hands? Pretend you're a car for a second or two. Learning animalism? Ever wondered who all those rats are working for? Is that really just a bat up there? How about obfuscate? There's no one here, really. You can trust me. Which brings us to presence. That last guy you got a good first impression off of...why exactly did you like him? And while we're on the subject, what happened just a few minutes ago? Are you sure? Why is it that some people always seem to know if you're lying? Once you learn about Thaumaturgy you'll never ever let anyone even see your blood. No one has? What happened last night around 7:00? Memory fuzzy? Don't worry, I'm sure it's normal. Fun hunh? And I've not even begun to list the possibilities of what other people can do to you. And let us not forget Diablerie. The extinguishment of a vampire by drinking their lifeblood, known as Amaranth or diablerie, is one of the most serious crimes. By consuming the essense (or soul) of another Kindred while they are succumbing to final death, it is possible for the diablerist to gain the blood potency of the dying Kindred. Anyone caught committing the act of Amaranth will have Lextalionis called upon them. Diablerie is a most serious threat to the safety of all Kindred, and its punishment is enforced ruthlessly.

These are the basic laws of Vampires, you should learn these.

I. The Tradition of The Masquerade
Secrecy is required of all Kindred concerning your true nature. This is the most important of the Traditions. To violate this tradition is to risk one's own destruction and the destruction of all Kindred. Active steps must be taken to change the character of mortal society, and direct minds away from superstitious thoughts. It is the Prince's right to limit feeding in cases where it may imperil the Masquerade. This may be concerned with where and from whom Kindred may feed, and the Prince may place restrictions on some or all Kindred in their domain.

II. The Tradition of Progeny
Vampires are forbidden from making more vampires. This is the rule that's most often ignored. Some require that you get permission first, but nobody is supposed to make another vampire.

III. The Tradition of Diablerie
You can gain a lot of power by drinking a vampire until they're completely gone. This is known as Diablerie. It lets you steal the power of whoever you drank. However, it's also forbidden, and it leaves a mark on your soul that others can see. Often, it's the only way a young vampire can get ahead, which is probably why it's forbidden.

Written by Todd Estabrooks. Modified from original by Ralph Lacy and Ted Prodromou. Used with Permission