Coterie Creation

Players might build their characters individually, but they build their coterie together. Collabora- tive coterie creation creates shared buy-in to the chronicle, and it allows players to indicate which aspects of the World of the Darkness they have the most interest in exploring. The coterie pool begins with one free dot per player character. (The Storyteller may allow player groups with three or fewer players to begin with a coterie pool of two free dots per character.) Players may also contribute their own characters’ Advantage dots to the coterie pool. Players spend the coterie pool collectively, although in some groups, each player controls their own contribution. The coterie can also purchase coterie Flaws to get more dots for the coterie during coterie creation. Every player must agree in order for the coterie to take a Flaw.

Domain

The core aspect of a coterie, Domain represents a physical area of the city in which the coterie can hunt. To the Camarilla, each domain resembles a feudal fief, held by grant from the Prince or another noble Kindred; Anarch coteries more likely refer to their domain as “turf.” Either way, the principle remains the same. Like other elements of the World of Darkness, Domains have Traits. Each dot of a Domain Trait costs one dot from the coterie pool. Domain Traits cover a lot of ground, so to speak: use them as abstractions, not as constraints.

Chasse

This Trait describes how well- stocked, vulnerable, and rich the domain is as a hunting ground. One dot in Chasse provides the coterie with a default hunting Difficulty of 6 inside their domain. Each additional dot reduces that Difficulty by one. Chasse also refers abstractly to the physical size of the domain. This quality varies radially, depending on the specific city’s geography, but as a very general rule use the following table.

chasse	geographical equivalent
*	One city block, one suburban gated community
**	Two to four blocks, one park and its entrances, one small site (tourist landmark, hospital, mall)
***	Eight blocks on both sides of a major street, one medium site (airport, major employer, casino, college)
****	One neighborhood or defined district, a square kilometer, everything along one highway or major street, one major site (large university, amusement park)
*****	Three neighborhoods, a large group of features (“all parks on the South Side,”“all hospitals in Queens,”“all highways south of the river”)

Dots need not always translate to size. Obviously a smaller domain in a rich hunting area, such as the Rack, still has a higher Chasse than a large domain in a desolate or empty part of the city.

Lien

This Trait describes how well integrated the coterie is into their domain. Each dot in Lien adds one die to a coterie member’s pool on attempts to, e.g., interact peacefully with a native mortal; find something, someone, or somewhere specific within the domain; find out the “word on the street,” or otherwise investigate something within the domain. Lien never modifies coterie member hunting roll

Portillon

This Trait describes how secure the domain is against intrusion or disruption: other vampires, mortal police or predators, the Second Inquisition, etc. Each dot of Portillon subtracts one die from a foe’s pool when they attempt to, for example, enter, investigate, or surveil the domain without the coterie’s knowledge. Portillon seldom adds to char- acter pools; it primarily acts as a resistance Trait. A critical success by an intruder might lower the Portillon of the Domain against that specific intruder – unless the coterie deals with them before the next incursion. Portillon does not apply to Havens, in or out of the Domain.

Coterie Backgrounds

Coteries can hold certain Backgrounds and Flaws in common: Adversary, Ally, Contacts, Enemy, Haven, Herd, Influence, Mask, Mawla, Resources, Retainers, and Status. Buy coterie Backgrounds with coterie pool dots, just like you would buy an individual character’s Background. Remember to record major figures on the Relationship Map, just as with individual Backgrounds. Each member of the coterie can use these coterie Backgrounds as their own. However, the Background belongs to the coterie, not to the individual character. If the coterie splits up, or if a character gets ejected from their coterie (banished by the Prince, for example), then they cannot take the Background with them.

Types of Coteries

Blood Cult
Formally condemned as violations of the Masquerade, blood cults have nevertheless resurged with the coming of Gehenna. This coterie entices mortal worshippers, feeding them vitae or just enslaving them. Many blood cults reveal enough supernatural truth (though not always vampiric lore) to alert the Second Inquisition, adding yet more implacable foes.

• Domain: Lien (•) and Portillon (••)
• Herd: (•••)
• Status Flaw: (•) Suspect
• Possible extras: Enemies (••), Haven (cult church or compound), Mask Flaw (••) (on the Second Inquisition radar), Retainers

Carnival
Carnival coteries move from place to place, bringing the party with them. Where Nomads celebrate rootlessness, Carnivals strive to make an impression on mortals, Kindred, or both, depending on the coterie’s style. Some Carnivals appeal to elders by providing deliberately anachronistic entertainments, recalling Dust Bowl circuses or further back, medieval troubadours. Others organize raves with cutting-edge music spun by six-figure-a-night DJs. Not all Carnivals are devoted purely to entertainment and the chance to feed, however. Their spectacles might include politics and theater or Cainite rites, hidden in plain sight.

• Domain: None
• Contacts: (•••) (fans in every town)
• Fame: (•••) (a wandering spectacle)
• Retainers: (•) (daylight help)
• Possible Extras: Allies, Herd (fans who follow), Resources

Cerberus
The coterie exists to protect or guard a certain spot or important location, such as a grave, a portal, or the vault of a priceless relic. Cerberus coteries often become "legacy coteries", with membership passed down to generations of new vampires.

• Domain: Chasse (•) and Portillon (•••)
• Haven: (••)
• Possible extras: Adversary, Haunted flaw in Haven, Status (for legacies)

Champions
The coterie exists to fight for a cause, possibly even one that mortals might recognize as worthy: clean up the neighborhood by devouring drug dealers, for example. Thin-bloods often begin their unlives as champions. Thicker- blooded champions likely consider themselves Anarchs or at least Anarch sympathizers, although a clever Prince of the Camarilla can put even the highest-minded vampires to good use. In the end, even champions have to make the hard choice between their human charges and their vampiric urges.

• Domain: Chasse (•) and Lien (•••)
• Allies: (•)
• Enemies: (••)
• Possible extras: Adversary, Contacts

Commando
The coterie exists to fight its master’s enemies: the vampiric equivalent of a SWAT or special operations team. You may even disguise yourself as a squad of the city’s tactical police, as long as you don’t try to pass as officers in front of a real one.

• Domain: Chasse (•) and Portillon (••)
• Mawla: (•••) (whoever tasks you for your missions)
• Status: (•)
• Enemies: (••)
• Possible extras: Adversary, Haven (base of operations), Mask

Day Watch
The coterie guards the undead city from mortals, especially during the day when most Kindred sleep. Each member must be a thin-blood with the Day Drinker Merit, or the Storyteller needs to provide them another means of remaining active by day.

• Domain: Chasse (•) and Portillon (••)
• Influence: (••)
• Enemies: (•••)
• Possible extras: Allies, Contacts, Haven, Mawla, a shared relic or ritual allowing activity by day

Envoy
This group serves on diplomatic missions, functioning as negotiators and mediators between disparate parties. Most often, envoy coteries form in the wake of conflicts between warring factions. When two or more cults come to a compromise, they sometimes task their younger members with forming such a coterie so shared service and common causes can transcend old grievances.

• Domain: Chasse (•), Lien (•••)
• Contacts: (•••) (mortals from diverse backgrounds and professions)
• Resources: (••) (pooled cash and assets)
• Status Flaw: (•) Suspect
• Possible extras: Mask (cover identities for different domains), No Haven (always on the move)

Fang Gang
The coterie operates as a criminal gang, or possibly as a crew of bur- glars or con artists. The fang gang may disguise itself as part of the city’s organized crime syndicate, or act as the Prince or Baron’s liaison with them.

• Domain: Chasse (•), Lien (•), and Portillon (•)
• Contacts: (•) (fence or other criminal middleman)
• Enemies: (••)
• Possible extras: Haven (clubhouse), Herd (human members/victims of your gang), Influence (organized crime), Retainers, Status (likely with Anarchs

Hunting Party
The coterie specializes in hunting and capturing humans with particular qualities of the blood. With knowledge of, and tastes for, humors and Resonances spreading among thin-blood cookers and Toreador gourmands alike, coteries on the make often choose to become coteries on the prowl for others.

• Domain: Chasse (•••)
• Ally: (•)or Mawla: (•) (blood broker)
• Possible extras: Herd, Influence (organized crime)

Maréchal
This coterie serves and guards the Prince or Baron, doing their bidding as attendants and hatchet-men. Their direct access to the ruler means that influential elders attempt to insert their childer into the coterie – indeed, every member of the coterie may be Primogen get. Elders left out use every means at their disposal to turn (or break) the coterie to their advantage.

• Domain: Chasse (••) and Portillon (••)
• Status: (•••)
• Possible extras: Adversaries, Influence, Mawla (Prince/Baron), Retainers

Nomads
The coterie travels from place to place. It might pose as (or actually be) a band, theater troupe, or other itinerant artists. Indeed, this coterie might perform exclusively for Kindred audiences at Princely courts, not just second-tier rock clubs in the old factory district. Alternatively, nomad coteries might be refugees from the Gehenna War or just “kings of the road.”

• Domain: None
• Contacts: (•••) (audience, promoters, travel brokers, etc.)
• Retainers: (••) (at least one adult to handle daytime travel problems)
• Status Flaw: (•) Suspect
• Possible extras: Herd (fellow travelers)

Plumaire
Birds of a feather flock together, and social coteries like plumaires (“feathered ones”) exemplify this adage. United by ties of social prominence or simple common enthusiasms, social coteries appear in Camarilla courts and Anarch alleys alike. Some plumaires unite under gothic, club, or other countercultures, sharing similar tastes in music and fashion.

• Domain: Chasse (••) and Lien (••)
• Contacts: (•••) (fellow members of your subculture)
• Possible extras: Adversary or Enemy (rival fashionista), Status (for high society Plumaires)

Questari
The coterie exists to accomplish a great enterprise or objective. Questari coteries often form of their own volition, pursuing their purpose out of desire rather than by edict. They may chase a target, hunt a relic, or solve a mystery. They may often need to leave the city.

• Domain: Chasse (•) and Lien (•••)
• Contacts: (••)
• Possible extras: Haven with Library, Mawla, Resources (research budget)

Regency
An elder of the Camarilla chose or created the coterie to guard their legacy as they were Beckoned into the Middle East. They hold the elder’s vote among the Primogen. Anarch elders who feel the Beckoning likewise facilitate the selection of a steering coterie in their place, or just appoint one to a watching brief on the Council.

• Domain: Chasse (••) and Portillon (•••)
• Mawla: (••) (major-domo or zampolit)
• Status: (••••) (or ••• for Anarch Regencies)
• Advantages: Select up to 10 dots shared among Haven, Herd, Influence, Resources, and/or Retainers
• Flaws: Select the same amount of dots worth of Flaws as Advantages, above

Sbirri
This coterie disguises itself as one type of coterie, while secretly serving another Prince or Baron than they feign allegiance to. Their patron hand-picks a group of Kindred, and then dispatches them to another city or some- times to a separate faction within the same metropolis.

• Mawla: (••) (handler or messenger)
• Mask: (•)
• Possible extras: Adversaries on target city’s Primogen, other Advantages from the coterie’s supposed cover type

Vehme
Named for (and possibly descended from) the vigilante secret society in medieval Germany, Primogen task this coterie to protect the Masquerade at all costs. The Vehme has the authority to arrest and subdue violators, if need be, to bring them before the Prince and Primogen.

• Domain: Chasse (•)
• Influence: (•••) (especially in police and media)
• Status: (•••)
• Possible extras: Adversaries, Mawla (on Primogen or Anarch Councils)

Watchmen
The coterie patrols the city and protects it from intruders, especial- ly Anarchs and werewolves. Camarilla coteries established in border cities to repel Sabbat influence or to colonize newly won territory also count as Watchmen. Anarch cities call their Watchmen (who also guard against reactionaries and Camarilla infiltrators) the Committee of Public Safety, the Cheka, or the Eyes of the People.

• Domain: Chasse (•), Lien (••) and Portillon (•)
• Status: (••) (Camarilla)
• Possible extras: Contacts, Retainers