Oaths of Performance
An oath of performance is a promise to take action on behalf of the lord, or at least to devote one’s full energy to achieving said action. Such an oath is not broken by continued failure, unless the oath contains a time limit, and although Final Death does break the oath, ceasing to even try to achieve the goal does break the oath.
Oaths of performance, like oaths of avoidance, are often sworn because a Kindred has little choice in the matter. In particular, these oaths are a common means of punishment for minor crimes among the Invictus, forcing the criminal to redress the balance with Invictus society. However, the more powerful supernatural oaths of performance grant some benefits to the Kindred swearing them, and Kindred fully intending to carry out a certain action may swear them voluntarily.
Most oaths of performance are oaths to complete some significant task. Oaths to perform a lesser task repeatedly are normally mutual oaths, as the lord being sworn to customarily offers some prize or power in return. The Ventrue, Amadeo, for example, swore to bring the whole of India under Invictus control at a grand ceremony held in Vienna, attended by all the notable Society vampires of that city, while his followers swore oaths to support him. (Amadeo swore an oath of performance, while his followers swore mutual oaths, as described below.) The nature of the oaths seems to have been of little help, however, as none of the oath-swearing Kindred were ever heard from again.
Oaths of performance, like oaths of avoidance, are often sworn because a Kindred has little choice in the matter. In particular, these oaths are a common means of punishment for minor crimes among the Invictus, forcing the criminal to redress the balance with Invictus society. However, the more powerful supernatural oaths of performance grant some benefits to the Kindred swearing them, and Kindred fully intending to carry out a certain action may swear them voluntarily.
Most oaths of performance are oaths to complete some significant task. Oaths to perform a lesser task repeatedly are normally mutual oaths, as the lord being sworn to customarily offers some prize or power in return. The Ventrue, Amadeo, for example, swore to bring the whole of India under Invictus control at a grand ceremony held in Vienna, attended by all the notable Society vampires of that city, while his followers swore oaths to support him. (Amadeo swore an oath of performance, while his followers swore mutual oaths, as described below.) The nature of the oaths seems to have been of little help, however, as none of the oath-swearing Kindred were ever heard from again.
Devotions Or Not?
Some Oaths seem to draw on the raw mystic qualities of the Blood — the same supernatural potency that empowers the Vinculum and the Embrace — rather than the refined arcane powers of Disciplines. It may be that these powers are some form of diluted Devotions, thinned to the point where any suitable potent Vitae can unlock their powers. The truth is that not all such powers are fully understood even by the Invictus that employ them.In terms of game mechanics, treat these odd powers as Devotions with no inherent prerequisite Disciplines. All that’s required is suitably potent blood. At the Storyteller’s discretion, however, the Blood Potency prerequisite can be replaced with the following: To purchase an Oath of Performance, a character must have at least six dots of Disciplines.
Rumors persist among the Damned of all covenants that the inherent mystic sympathy of the Blood can be exploited, altered or enhanced with other supernatural powers besides these.