Status
(• to •••••; special)
Effects: Your character has standing, credentials, authority or respect within an organization, group, company or social body. He might have an official position or title, or might simply be revered and honored within the group and therefore accorded a degree of authority. Your character might be a company vice president, a police sergeant or lieutenant, an army corporal or a nurse at a hospital. Or he could be a lowly member of the group whom everyone likes or who has won some acclaim and is allowed more standing than he is officially entitled.
Each acquisition of this Merit is dedicated to one type of authority, whether in an organization, society or circle. Examples include police, City Hall, criminals, unions, banks, a university faculty and hospital staff. In order to have authority in more than one venue, you need to purchase this Merit multiple times, each trait with its own dots. Thus, your character might have Status (Police) ••, Status) (Criminals) ••• and Status (City Hall) •, each acquired separately at character creation or during play. You would need to explain how he reconciles all this authority in the setting. The aforementioned character might be a dirty police sergeant who has paid his dues in civil elections and gained some recognition among city officials.
Status represents the privileges and liberties that your character is authorized to take within the confines and definitions of his group. Increasing dots reflect increasing clout. A cop with Status 1 can enter the suspect lockup and Interrogation rooms, while a cop with Status 4 can enter the evidence locker without supervision or get involved in a crimescene investigation without specifically being called in.
The phrase "within the confines and definitions of his group" is emphasized above because Status operates exclusively through official channels. A surgeon might have one patient seen or operated on before another, because that's within the official confines of his authority. Exceeding the confines of authority or proper channels transcends the limits of the Status Merit. Going above and beyond - to ask for favors rather than give orders or to requisition an official request - enters the realm of the Allies Merit. So, a police detective who gets a lower-ranking officer to investigate a case may do so with Status. That request is conducted through proper channels. Meanwhile, a police detective who asks another officer to overlook some evidence or to delay an investigation does so with Allies. The favor is asked outside official channels.
While Status might allow your character to give orders to underlings, the Merit doesn't automatically get results. Subordinates or co-workers might resent their assignments, dislike your character or have personal agendas that interfere with your character's needs. Efforts to get things done through official channels still call for Manipulation + Intimidation, Persuasion or Socialize rolls, whichever Skill is appropriate to the request, circumstances and your characterÕs standing within the organization. Bonus dice equal your character's Status dots. Penalties might apply if your character browbeats someone (- 1), uses threats (-2), skirts the limits of his authority (-2) or exceeds his authority (-3 to -5).
Some sample organizations and the basic benefits, perks and privileges of standing in them are listed below.
City Police: A patrol officer has legal powers of search, seizure and arrest, is permitted to carry a firearm at all times and has access to a wide range of local databases. High-ranking officers (•••+) can initiate investigations, coordinate with neighboring county or state police, and call in urban-assault teams.
Clerical Standing: Your character is a licensed minister, gaining access to people and places such as accused criminals, hospital patients, crime and accident scenes, and restricted areas in religious institutions. Prerequisite: Academics Skill Specialty: Religion.
Corporate Executive: A low-level corporate executive has access to much of the company's Resources, including corporate credit cards, vehicles, cell phones and computer Equipment. Depending on the company, he can also access sources of information and influence not available to the general public. Executives (•••+) have larger salaries, expense accounts, and hiring and firing powers, not to mention social perks and access to connected political figures and/or celebrities.
Diplomat: Your character is a registered diplomat for a sovereign country. If he works in a foreign country he has free lodging, access to his country's embassy and immunity from foreign criminal prosecution. Prerequisites: Politics •• and Persuasion ••.
Licensed Professional: Your character is licensed in a recognized profession that affords him privileges unavailable to most civilians. He might be a private investigator and authorized to carry a concealed weapon and to have access to restricted databases and government files, or he could be a building contractor and be authorized to own and use explosives for professional applications. Prerequisite: Academics Skill Specialty: Law (private investigator), Science Skill Specialty: Demolitions (building contractor).
Medical: Your character is licensed to practice medicine. He can write prescriptions, access medical records and gain access to restricted areas such as crime and accident scenes. Prerequisite: Medicine ••.
Military: An enlisted soldier has a monthly stipend, is permitted to possess military-grade firearms and has access to restricted sources of information and Equipment. If he is an active-duty soldier he receives free room and board and medical care. High-ranking soldiers (•••+) are officers who can command units, requisition military Equipment and perhaps even initiate foreign insurgencies.
Rotary Club: A basic member in good standing has access to the local meeting hall and a network of members who can provide club-related information or perform club-related duties. A basic member can also benefit from the organization's emergency fund in times of need. Highranking members (•••+) have access to other clubs around the country, and have sway over connected civic groups and political figures.
While certain Merits detailed in the World of Darkness Rulebook focus on recognition in mortal society, certain Status concerns itself with the social orders of the night and represents recognition among other vampires. Status is divided into three areas — City, Clan and Covenant. Players must choose one of these three areas for each Merit point spent. (Enterprising Storytellers may come up with additional types of Status, and clever players might have unique applications as well. Status is designed as a sort of “umbrella” Merit, under which new types can be created.)
City Status represents a vested responsibility and according acknowledgement in the affairs of a domain. Regardless of clan and covenant, certain individuals rise to the top of the social or feudal strata, exemplary because of their efforts in the name of the domain as a whole. Princes, Regents, Primogen, Harpies and other “officers” of a given domain fit this description.
Additionally, City Status represents those Kindred who aren’t part of the prevailing social structure, but who nonetheless have significant esteem, sway or reputation among the Kindred. Examples include bosses of powerful gangs, Kindred who have considerable influence in specialized areas (prominent businessmen, city government, health care and hospitals, religious communities), or even just those who are powerful in their own right but largely apolitical, as with a potent elder who abstains from city responsibilities but whose territory is respected by all other local Kindred.
In some cases, City Status is very much a chicken-and-egg situation — does Status Maxwell have City Status 5 because he’s Prince, or did his accumulated City Status result in his claiming praxis? In other cases, City Status obviously reflects accomplishment, as with a political activist who has many mortal supporters — but those supporters obviously didn’t join his cause because they knew he was a vampire. Harpies, in particular, make much of these distinctions, but some speculate that that’s because their own Status falls under the definition of City Status.
• Hound or “rising star”
•• Sheriff or “accomplished individual”
••• Harpy, Seneschal, Master of Elysium or “muchdeserved reputation”
•••• Regent, Primogen, Herald or “cornerstone of Kindred society”
••••• Prince or “true paragon”
Clan Status is concerned with lineage and the Blood. At the outset of a chronicle, a Kindred’s standing often reflects the prestige her sire has gained and passed along, such as with regard to the Ventrue. Many assume that childer who were Embraced by powerful and influential members of the clan have already shown some special quality or excellence, otherwise they would not have been chosen by so great a sire. This kind of recognition is short lived, however. A neonate might enjoy prestige by association under the purview of her sire, but such a favored childe is expected to make a name for herself.
Vampires who truly embody the ideals of their clan and who establish themselves in positions of power and influence (often as Prisci) gain the respect of others in their clan, being perceived as models for success. While the Daeva tell tales of particularly vicious Harpies of distant cities, the Gangrel speak of brooding hulks who confidently brave the Lupine-infested wilds alone. Those who diverge from the expected behavior of the clan in remarkable ways gain renown (or notoriety), as well, perhaps founding bloodlines that become known to vampire society as a whole.
Clan Status is not so rigidly defined as City Status. While individual clan titles might arise, the notion of esteem is more general in this context.
Covenant Status represents rank, achievement and responsibility, less concerned with clan ideals and more with covenant actions, philosophies and accomplishments. The various covenants are not bound by any supernatural means or governed by clan lineage. They find a commonality of goals and ideologies, instead. It is not enough to be powerful or exemplary of clan ideals; a covenant is concerned with what its members have done to benefit its cause and combat its rivals.
Those Kindred who enjoy the greatest covenant-based esteem are often the core members of their factions in a given city, those around whom others rally. These Kindred instigate or mediate conflict with other covenants, generally looking to further certain idealistic goals and establish themselves or other members in positions of influence in the local hierarchy. A Mekhet in command of a massive spy network might have Status within his clan, but the lowliest of his spies might risk her unlife to gather a specific piece of information that helps oust The Invictus Prince, subsequently enjoying far more Status with, say, The Ordo Dracul than her master.
A character must have at least a single dot of Covenant Status in order to gain the benefits of any special abilities of that covenant. In other words, a character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) in order to learn Theban Sorcery. Or a character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Invictus) to take advantage of the experience- point break on the Herd, Mentor, Resources and Retainer Merits. If a character leaves a covenant after learning some of its secrets, he does not lose any of those traits for which he paid experience points, but he may not learn additional dots of those traits (or additional dots at that particular price break, as with The Invictus and the Carthians). See p. 91-92 for the complete list of which covenants grant which benefits.
Like Clan Status, Covenant Status is not so specifically tied to certain titles. It is more a notion of an individual’s accomplishments. A Lancea Sanctum Priest, for example, has a greater title than, say, a noted ethicist of the covenant, but that ethicist might have written numerous treatises on the state of undeath and the soul, according her more esteem among her peers than the Priest who rides solely on the weight of her title.
• The character is known to a select subset of the clan/ covenant — a spy network, perhaps.
•• The majority of the clan/covenant in the city recognizes the character’s face and can recall her exploits.
••• The character’s deeds are known to all in the local covenant, even in other nearby cities; many members of other covenants recognize her face.
•••• Word of the character’s exploits has traveled far, and her name is known in cities around the country.
••••• The character’s name and face are synonymous with her clan/covenant; her exploits are taught to new members of the clan/covenant.
Status can serve as a mixed blessing, however. Those who enjoy the most might be able to use it to their advantage, but they are also visible targets for their enemies. High levels of Status make it almost impossible to pass unnoticed, even while they open doors that would otherwise remain closed.
Status works like a “social tool” in that it adds to dice pools for social interactions between members of the sub-group in question. That is, Covenant Status adds to dice pools for interactions with members of the same covenant, Clan Status enhances interactions with members of the same Clan, and City Status affects those who are recognized residents of the given domain. City Status, however, may be ignored by those who are among the unbound.
Example: Loki wants access to the Mekhet Priscus, but the Priscus is already occupied with an envoy from Clan Daeva. He instead finds himself dealing with one of her aides, another Mekhet. Loki, a Mekhet himself, tries to convince the aide that he has important business to discuss with the Priscus. His player adds Clan Status to a Manipulation + Persuasion dice pool. Loki has Manipulation 2, Persuasion 3 and Clan Status (Mekhet) 2, creating a pool of seven dice for the task.
Status does not add to dice pools predicated on supernatural powers. For example, a Prince’s City Status is not added to a dice pool for use of his Dread Gaze power.
Dealing with Status can be a mire of responsibility, though clever characters can turn it to their advantage. They may actually have a variety of Status — it is not unheard of for a character to have City Status, Clan Status and Covenant Status.
A character may have Clan Status only as a member of his own clan. For instance, a Nosferatu never gains Clan Status (Gangrel) no matter how much aid he provides the Savages. His aid of the Gangrel may certainly earn him esteem, but such concern is better handled on a case-by-case basis by the Storyteller, not in the form of Clan Status.
Covenant Status is unique in that a character may, on occasion, have more than one form of it. This occurs almost exclusively at low levels, where a character is often beneath the notice of most other members of his covenants. A character may never have more than three dots total in Covenant Status among multiple covenants. A double-agent, for example, might take two dots worth of Covenant Status (Carthians) and a single dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum), representing the character’s true allegiance to the Carthians as well as the fact that he’s in on the ground floor of The Lancea Sanctum so that he can feed information back to his Carthian fellows. A character may even have a single dot of Covenant Status in three different covenants — perhaps he’s somewhat accomplished in each, but has yet to determine where his true loyalties lie. Naturally, a character with Status in only one Covenant is not beholden to the three-dot limit.
A character with dots in Covenant Status through multiple factions does indeed gain access to those covenants’ special benefits. Covenants expect certain contributions of their members, however, and if other Kindred find out that the vampire in question plays multiple sides against the middle, he might see that Status vanish in a single night in which he’s called upon to account for his treacheries. Such is also the reason that cumulative Covenant Status is limited to three dots. By the time a character gains a certain degree of Status in a single covenant, he sticks out like a sore thumb if he turns up among another covenant’s members. (An exception to this might occur if a character is truly some sort of deep-cover agent or other mole, but that circumstance is best handled at the Storyteller’s discretion).
• You’ve been accepted as one of the fidai, the faithful. Your faith in traditional Islam has been dissolved and you have begun the study of the batin as well as extensive training in the Martyr’s fighting style. You may purchase the Fighting Style: Two Weapon Merit (p 112, World of Darkness Rulebook) at half the usual cost in experience, whether or not you meet the prerequisites. If you fail to meet the Merit’s prerequisites, you may only use it when wielding a kukri in one hand and a dagger in the other.
••• You have devoted yourself as one of the rafik, becoming deeply initiated into the esoteric secrets of your teachers. You gain a free Occult Specialty in Mysticism, Gnosticism or Philosophy. Additionally, you acquire a free dot of Allies (Ahl al-Jabal).
••••• You have risen to the rank of dai and are a missionary within your sect. You have met with other dai, and they expect you to travel to a new city and establish a new cell. It has become your mission to further the faith rather than risk your existence in the jihad. You gain the Inspiring Merit (p. 115, World of Darkness Rulebook) for free, whether or not you meet that Merit’s prerequisites, but can only use it when interacting with other members of your sect. If you already possess the Inspiring Merit, its affects stack, now granting two Willpower points whether bolstering the spirits of those within your sect or without.
Each acquisition of this Merit is dedicated to one type of authority, whether in an organization, society or circle. Examples include police, City Hall, criminals, unions, banks, a university faculty and hospital staff. In order to have authority in more than one venue, you need to purchase this Merit multiple times, each trait with its own dots. Thus, your character might have Status (Police) ••, Status) (Criminals) ••• and Status (City Hall) •, each acquired separately at character creation or during play. You would need to explain how he reconciles all this authority in the setting. The aforementioned character might be a dirty police sergeant who has paid his dues in civil elections and gained some recognition among city officials.
Status represents the privileges and liberties that your character is authorized to take within the confines and definitions of his group. Increasing dots reflect increasing clout. A cop with Status 1 can enter the suspect lockup and Interrogation rooms, while a cop with Status 4 can enter the evidence locker without supervision or get involved in a crimescene investigation without specifically being called in.
The phrase "within the confines and definitions of his group" is emphasized above because Status operates exclusively through official channels. A surgeon might have one patient seen or operated on before another, because that's within the official confines of his authority. Exceeding the confines of authority or proper channels transcends the limits of the Status Merit. Going above and beyond - to ask for favors rather than give orders or to requisition an official request - enters the realm of the Allies Merit. So, a police detective who gets a lower-ranking officer to investigate a case may do so with Status. That request is conducted through proper channels. Meanwhile, a police detective who asks another officer to overlook some evidence or to delay an investigation does so with Allies. The favor is asked outside official channels.
While Status might allow your character to give orders to underlings, the Merit doesn't automatically get results. Subordinates or co-workers might resent their assignments, dislike your character or have personal agendas that interfere with your character's needs. Efforts to get things done through official channels still call for Manipulation + Intimidation, Persuasion or Socialize rolls, whichever Skill is appropriate to the request, circumstances and your characterÕs standing within the organization. Bonus dice equal your character's Status dots. Penalties might apply if your character browbeats someone (- 1), uses threats (-2), skirts the limits of his authority (-2) or exceeds his authority (-3 to -5).
Some sample organizations and the basic benefits, perks and privileges of standing in them are listed below.
City Police: A patrol officer has legal powers of search, seizure and arrest, is permitted to carry a firearm at all times and has access to a wide range of local databases. High-ranking officers (•••+) can initiate investigations, coordinate with neighboring county or state police, and call in urban-assault teams.
Clerical Standing: Your character is a licensed minister, gaining access to people and places such as accused criminals, hospital patients, crime and accident scenes, and restricted areas in religious institutions. Prerequisite: Academics Skill Specialty: Religion.
Corporate Executive: A low-level corporate executive has access to much of the company's Resources, including corporate credit cards, vehicles, cell phones and computer Equipment. Depending on the company, he can also access sources of information and influence not available to the general public. Executives (•••+) have larger salaries, expense accounts, and hiring and firing powers, not to mention social perks and access to connected political figures and/or celebrities.
Diplomat: Your character is a registered diplomat for a sovereign country. If he works in a foreign country he has free lodging, access to his country's embassy and immunity from foreign criminal prosecution. Prerequisites: Politics •• and Persuasion ••.
Licensed Professional: Your character is licensed in a recognized profession that affords him privileges unavailable to most civilians. He might be a private investigator and authorized to carry a concealed weapon and to have access to restricted databases and government files, or he could be a building contractor and be authorized to own and use explosives for professional applications. Prerequisite: Academics Skill Specialty: Law (private investigator), Science Skill Specialty: Demolitions (building contractor).
Medical: Your character is licensed to practice medicine. He can write prescriptions, access medical records and gain access to restricted areas such as crime and accident scenes. Prerequisite: Medicine ••.
Military: An enlisted soldier has a monthly stipend, is permitted to possess military-grade firearms and has access to restricted sources of information and Equipment. If he is an active-duty soldier he receives free room and board and medical care. High-ranking soldiers (•••+) are officers who can command units, requisition military Equipment and perhaps even initiate foreign insurgencies.
Rotary Club: A basic member in good standing has access to the local meeting hall and a network of members who can provide club-related information or perform club-related duties. A basic member can also benefit from the organization's emergency fund in times of need. Highranking members (•••+) have access to other clubs around the country, and have sway over connected civic groups and political figures.
While certain Merits detailed in the World of Darkness Rulebook focus on recognition in mortal society, certain Status concerns itself with the social orders of the night and represents recognition among other vampires. Status is divided into three areas — City, Clan and Covenant. Players must choose one of these three areas for each Merit point spent. (Enterprising Storytellers may come up with additional types of Status, and clever players might have unique applications as well. Status is designed as a sort of “umbrella” Merit, under which new types can be created.)
City Status represents a vested responsibility and according acknowledgement in the affairs of a domain. Regardless of clan and covenant, certain individuals rise to the top of the social or feudal strata, exemplary because of their efforts in the name of the domain as a whole. Princes, Regents, Primogen, Harpies and other “officers” of a given domain fit this description.
Additionally, City Status represents those Kindred who aren’t part of the prevailing social structure, but who nonetheless have significant esteem, sway or reputation among the Kindred. Examples include bosses of powerful gangs, Kindred who have considerable influence in specialized areas (prominent businessmen, city government, health care and hospitals, religious communities), or even just those who are powerful in their own right but largely apolitical, as with a potent elder who abstains from city responsibilities but whose territory is respected by all other local Kindred.
In some cases, City Status is very much a chicken-and-egg situation — does Status Maxwell have City Status 5 because he’s Prince, or did his accumulated City Status result in his claiming praxis? In other cases, City Status obviously reflects accomplishment, as with a political activist who has many mortal supporters — but those supporters obviously didn’t join his cause because they knew he was a vampire. Harpies, in particular, make much of these distinctions, but some speculate that that’s because their own Status falls under the definition of City Status.
• Hound or “rising star”
•• Sheriff or “accomplished individual”
••• Harpy, Seneschal, Master of Elysium or “muchdeserved reputation”
•••• Regent, Primogen, Herald or “cornerstone of Kindred society”
••••• Prince or “true paragon”
Clan Status is concerned with lineage and the Blood. At the outset of a chronicle, a Kindred’s standing often reflects the prestige her sire has gained and passed along, such as with regard to the Ventrue. Many assume that childer who were Embraced by powerful and influential members of the clan have already shown some special quality or excellence, otherwise they would not have been chosen by so great a sire. This kind of recognition is short lived, however. A neonate might enjoy prestige by association under the purview of her sire, but such a favored childe is expected to make a name for herself.
Vampires who truly embody the ideals of their clan and who establish themselves in positions of power and influence (often as Prisci) gain the respect of others in their clan, being perceived as models for success. While the Daeva tell tales of particularly vicious Harpies of distant cities, the Gangrel speak of brooding hulks who confidently brave the Lupine-infested wilds alone. Those who diverge from the expected behavior of the clan in remarkable ways gain renown (or notoriety), as well, perhaps founding bloodlines that become known to vampire society as a whole.
Clan Status is not so rigidly defined as City Status. While individual clan titles might arise, the notion of esteem is more general in this context.
Covenant Status represents rank, achievement and responsibility, less concerned with clan ideals and more with covenant actions, philosophies and accomplishments. The various covenants are not bound by any supernatural means or governed by clan lineage. They find a commonality of goals and ideologies, instead. It is not enough to be powerful or exemplary of clan ideals; a covenant is concerned with what its members have done to benefit its cause and combat its rivals.
Those Kindred who enjoy the greatest covenant-based esteem are often the core members of their factions in a given city, those around whom others rally. These Kindred instigate or mediate conflict with other covenants, generally looking to further certain idealistic goals and establish themselves or other members in positions of influence in the local hierarchy. A Mekhet in command of a massive spy network might have Status within his clan, but the lowliest of his spies might risk her unlife to gather a specific piece of information that helps oust The Invictus Prince, subsequently enjoying far more Status with, say, The Ordo Dracul than her master.
A character must have at least a single dot of Covenant Status in order to gain the benefits of any special abilities of that covenant. In other words, a character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) in order to learn Theban Sorcery. Or a character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Invictus) to take advantage of the experience- point break on the Herd, Mentor, Resources and Retainer Merits. If a character leaves a covenant after learning some of its secrets, he does not lose any of those traits for which he paid experience points, but he may not learn additional dots of those traits (or additional dots at that particular price break, as with The Invictus and the Carthians). See p. 91-92 for the complete list of which covenants grant which benefits.
Like Clan Status, Covenant Status is not so specifically tied to certain titles. It is more a notion of an individual’s accomplishments. A Lancea Sanctum Priest, for example, has a greater title than, say, a noted ethicist of the covenant, but that ethicist might have written numerous treatises on the state of undeath and the soul, according her more esteem among her peers than the Priest who rides solely on the weight of her title.
• The character is known to a select subset of the clan/ covenant — a spy network, perhaps.
•• The majority of the clan/covenant in the city recognizes the character’s face and can recall her exploits.
••• The character’s deeds are known to all in the local covenant, even in other nearby cities; many members of other covenants recognize her face.
•••• Word of the character’s exploits has traveled far, and her name is known in cities around the country.
••••• The character’s name and face are synonymous with her clan/covenant; her exploits are taught to new members of the clan/covenant.
Status can serve as a mixed blessing, however. Those who enjoy the most might be able to use it to their advantage, but they are also visible targets for their enemies. High levels of Status make it almost impossible to pass unnoticed, even while they open doors that would otherwise remain closed.
Status works like a “social tool” in that it adds to dice pools for social interactions between members of the sub-group in question. That is, Covenant Status adds to dice pools for interactions with members of the same covenant, Clan Status enhances interactions with members of the same Clan, and City Status affects those who are recognized residents of the given domain. City Status, however, may be ignored by those who are among the unbound.
Example: Loki wants access to the Mekhet Priscus, but the Priscus is already occupied with an envoy from Clan Daeva. He instead finds himself dealing with one of her aides, another Mekhet. Loki, a Mekhet himself, tries to convince the aide that he has important business to discuss with the Priscus. His player adds Clan Status to a Manipulation + Persuasion dice pool. Loki has Manipulation 2, Persuasion 3 and Clan Status (Mekhet) 2, creating a pool of seven dice for the task.
Status does not add to dice pools predicated on supernatural powers. For example, a Prince’s City Status is not added to a dice pool for use of his Dread Gaze power.
Dealing with Status can be a mire of responsibility, though clever characters can turn it to their advantage. They may actually have a variety of Status — it is not unheard of for a character to have City Status, Clan Status and Covenant Status.
A character may have Clan Status only as a member of his own clan. For instance, a Nosferatu never gains Clan Status (Gangrel) no matter how much aid he provides the Savages. His aid of the Gangrel may certainly earn him esteem, but such concern is better handled on a case-by-case basis by the Storyteller, not in the form of Clan Status.
Covenant Status is unique in that a character may, on occasion, have more than one form of it. This occurs almost exclusively at low levels, where a character is often beneath the notice of most other members of his covenants. A character may never have more than three dots total in Covenant Status among multiple covenants. A double-agent, for example, might take two dots worth of Covenant Status (Carthians) and a single dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum), representing the character’s true allegiance to the Carthians as well as the fact that he’s in on the ground floor of The Lancea Sanctum so that he can feed information back to his Carthian fellows. A character may even have a single dot of Covenant Status in three different covenants — perhaps he’s somewhat accomplished in each, but has yet to determine where his true loyalties lie. Naturally, a character with Status in only one Covenant is not beholden to the three-dot limit.
A character with dots in Covenant Status through multiple factions does indeed gain access to those covenants’ special benefits. Covenants expect certain contributions of their members, however, and if other Kindred find out that the vampire in question plays multiple sides against the middle, he might see that Status vanish in a single night in which he’s called upon to account for his treacheries. Such is also the reason that cumulative Covenant Status is limited to three dots. By the time a character gains a certain degree of Status in a single covenant, he sticks out like a sore thumb if he turns up among another covenant’s members. (An exception to this might occur if a character is truly some sort of deep-cover agent or other mole, but that circumstance is best handled at the Storyteller’s discretion).
Status (Ahl al-Jabal)
Status within Ahl al-Jabal results largely from one’s understanding and acceptance of the faith. Ironically, though ostensibly an organization devoted to the hunt, destroying monsters rarely constitutes justification for an increase in Status on its own. Instead, a comprehensive insight into the esoteric truths revealed by the faith and the ability to relate them to others tend to serve as the primary measures of worth among the Martyrs.• You’ve been accepted as one of the fidai, the faithful. Your faith in traditional Islam has been dissolved and you have begun the study of the batin as well as extensive training in the Martyr’s fighting style. You may purchase the Fighting Style: Two Weapon Merit (p 112, World of Darkness Rulebook) at half the usual cost in experience, whether or not you meet the prerequisites. If you fail to meet the Merit’s prerequisites, you may only use it when wielding a kukri in one hand and a dagger in the other.
••• You have devoted yourself as one of the rafik, becoming deeply initiated into the esoteric secrets of your teachers. You gain a free Occult Specialty in Mysticism, Gnosticism or Philosophy. Additionally, you acquire a free dot of Allies (Ahl al-Jabal).
••••• You have risen to the rank of dai and are a missionary within your sect. You have met with other dai, and they expect you to travel to a new city and establish a new cell. It has become your mission to further the faith rather than risk your existence in the jihad. You gain the Inspiring Merit (p. 115, World of Darkness Rulebook) for free, whether or not you meet that Merit’s prerequisites, but can only use it when interacting with other members of your sect. If you already possess the Inspiring Merit, its affects stack, now granting two Willpower points whether bolstering the spirits of those within your sect or without.
Prerequisites: Varies (See specific examples)
Drawback: Your character's standing in a given organization is dependent on the fulfillment of his duties and on abiding by the regulations required of members.
Drawback: Your character's standing in a given organization is dependent on the fulfillment of his duties and on abiding by the regulations required of members.