The Traditions of The Masquerade

The Traditions of The Masquerade

Tradition 1: The Masquerade

The most important of the five traditions is the Masquerade itself, which gives the name to the packet of laws that most, though not all, kindred follow strictly. The Masquerade as a concept is the idea that vampires live in such a way that humans do not know of their existence, except when absolutely necessary. Exceptions allowed to the Masquerade include but are not limited to the following: humans being groomed directly for the embrace, humans deemed useful enough by a local prince or other high ranking vampire that they are allowed to operate amongst kindred society, or special concessions allowed to create a positive relationship with the rulership of local human populations. An example of this includes the traditional "reading in" ceremony which happens to many world leaders across the world where if they were not already in the know of kindred society they are made aware of the presence of the super natural and the delicate balance of the relationship between humans and the supernatural, kindred being one of the more important balances to maintain. The maintenance of The Masquerade often falls under the purview of the local prince of a given domain, they answer only to The Ivory Tower, meaning the high council of the Camarilla based out of Vienna. The justiciars of the high council may come to investigate if too much strife happens in a city or a breach of the masquerade is known to have gone unpunished by the local prince.

Tradition 2: Domain

The majority of kindred society still works under some form of feudalism in regards to territory. Often the prince of a city will keep the best hunting down ground for their personal demesne and likewise truncate out the majority of other territory amongst vampires who make a life in the city and follow the masquerade well. When in another vampire's domain it is the visitors obligation to introduce themselves in a neutral place (often the court of the local prince) and ensure they will conduct themselves with civility. It is similarity the ruler of a dominion's duty to ensure that visitors in his land are treated well and uphold the masquerade within their domain. Breaches of the masquerade in a particular domain may be visited on the ruler of the domain by the local prince if it was not a. done directly in their dominion, or if the prince does not believe the breach was their fault. This creates a mutual relationship of feudal responsibility within the borders of a city.

Tradition 3: Progeny

The act of committing the embrace is not one taken lightly. It must always be done with the consent of elders within your clan, often this takes the form of the consent of your own sire, or a local high ranking member of your clan. To embrace someone into the night without the consent of an elder will likely lead to at least the destruction of the Childe, and may well lead in you being punished with Final Death. The Camarilla treats the tradition of progeny with a lot of importance as to sire too many vampires may lead to over feeding in an area which could arouse the suspicions of humanity and a new inquisition being formed.

Tradition 4: Accounting

it is the duty of a sire to keep an accounting of the actions of their children, as the sire is very often also held responsible for the actions of the Childe in regards to breaches of the Masquerade.

Tradition 5: Hospitality

As mentioned in the tradition of Domain, it is a vampire who has been gifted or earned a domain to offer hospitality to visitors in their domain and treat them fairly. It is also the duty of visitors to always conduct themselves in a way that follows the Masquerade as best they can while in vampires domain, and always introduce themselves at the Court of a local Prince if not already invited to the Domain. This ensures that the elders of a given domain know what vampires are present in a given city for purposes of investigating known breaches.

Tradition 6: Destruction

When a breach of the Masquerade is known and been fully blamed on at least one kindred the Prince or other such Elder responsible for a given area is capable of calling up a Blood Hunt as punishment for the Breach. When a Blood Hunt is called that means that all respects once offered to a vampire by order of the Masquerade are no longer in place and any crimes visited upon them will have no legal repercussions. Traditionally a Blood Hunt always ends in the death of the target, but often it can end with the agreement that a kindred be banished under penalty of final death, or the required civil service to the domain for an agreed upon time until the breach has been worked off.

Localization

All Camarilla vampire settlements actively follow The Masquerade. Anarch Movement based civilization follows the idea of The Masquerade, but do not enforce it as strictly. The Sabbat opposed The Masquerade and instead follows the edicts of The Book of Nod the spiritual laws that Cain ruled ancient vampires under back in the time of The Second City before The Great Deluge.

Type

Natural