chapter five

Oath of Blood Focus

Prerequisite: Blood Potency •••+, Covenant Status: Invictus •+

Cost: 1 dot of Willpower, supplied by the Kindred taking the Oath.

Dice Pool: No roll is necessary to activate this power.

Action: Instant

The Oath of Blood Focus has both immediate and long-term effects:

On swearing the Oath, the subject’s Willpower dots temporarily rise to 10. When the Oath is sworn, she immediately gains enough Willpower points to fill her expanded capacity.

The subject’s Blood Potency increases by two for all purposes except for determining viable sources of Vitae.

The subject does not sleep during the daytime, though she must still spend Vitae at nightfall as though she were rising from sleep.

Finally, her Oath temporarily becomes a part of her moral center. Treat the Oath like a second Vice for the character: she regains one Willpower point after any scene in which she draws closer to completing her goal.

However, to take any action that does not contribute to fulfilling the Oath requires the subject to make a successful Resolve + Composure roll. To take an action that goes against the Oath requires an exceptional success on a Resolve + Composure roll. Even if the Kindred manages to take an action outside the scope of the Oath, she cannot spend Vitae or Willpower to augment dice pools to complete such actions.

In general, self-preservation contributes directly to the fulfillment of any Oath. If it is possible to save oneself while furthering the Oath, however, the Kindred must choose that course of action if she fails her Resolve + Composure roll, even if it is more risky than other available alternatives.

These benefits last for a number of nights equal to the subject’s dots in Resolve. When the Oath’s period is over, the sworn Kindred loses all of her Willpower points, leaving her worn and exhausted. The character cannot regain any Willpower from rest or chapter breaks until she regains at least one Willpower point from enacting her Virtue or her Vice.

A Kindred may only swear one Oath of Blood Focus at a time, and is bound by that Oath until she fulfills it, surrenders all of her Willpower points to break it or the Oath expires.

This power costs five experience points to learn.

Mutual Oaths

Mutual oaths, most notably oaths of fealty, are perhaps the most important oaths among the Invictus. One party to the oath promises a service in return to for a specified benefit. Typically, the superior in the pair gets

the greater benefit out of the arrangement, but that is hardly a requirement of the arrangement. These oaths are usually sworn voluntarily, by Kindred who feel that the arrangement is advantageous (or necessary), even if it’s not fair.

It is, however, far from unusual for Invictus lords to demand such Oaths from their followers. Indeed, some Invictus Princes with a stranglehold on their domains require a basic oath of fealty from every Kindred in the domain, no matter what covenant the Kindred supports.

Within the Invictus, it is unusual to accept service without an oath of some kind. In most cases, however, the lord takes care to offer a vassal enough in return that no mystic bond is necessary.

The basic oath of fealty is rarely supernaturally enforced, in large part because its terms are normally vague. The Kindred vassal promises loyalty and political or martial support, while the lord promises protection and hunting rights, for example. Nevertheless, Invictus ceremonies are often highly elaborate. Both parties to the oath often write the terms that they swear to in their own blood, each on one half of a piece of paper or parchment. This is then torn in half, and each party keeps the half with the other party’s words on it. Sometimes, however, the ceremony consists simply of the swearing Kindred and a witness in an improvised ritual during which this document is written and the parts separated.

One Invictus Prince required those Kindred swearing fealty to him to keep vigil for a whole day in a subterranean chapel, wearing armor but carrying no weapons. Kindred who managed to remain awake for the whole day were treated with increased respect, but that was not a requirement. The new vassal was then led from the chapel by the Prince’s Seneschal, into the Audience Chamber, and between the massed Kindred of the city. Before the Prince, the vassal was required to abase himself on the floor, and offer his full and unconditional service. The Prince refused such service, declaring that it was due to no creature, living or undead, and instead offered fealty on certain terms, normally agreed to beforehand. The new vassal would refuse those terms, declaring himself unworthy, and the Prince would insist. A second time, the vassal would refuse and the Prince insist. Finally, on the third offering, the vassal accepted, rose to a kneeling position and wrote his half of the Oath. The Prince himself tore their contract in half and awarded the oath to his new vassal.

Oath of Blood Alliance

The Oath of Blood Alliance is the simplest supernatural mutual oath. The trick to swearing it can be learned by any Kindred in one night, and knowledge of this Oath is ubiquitous among the ancillae of some domains. One party to the Oath swears to perform a service, and the other party promises a reward.

As with many Invictus Blood Oaths, the term of the Oath must be written out in the blood of the swearing Kindred. The text of the contract remains wet for the duration of the night, or for as long the terms of the contract are unfulfilled.

The service must be something that can be performed in a single night, although it is often something that takes a whole night. A Kindred might swear to uphold the other’s reputation at an Invictus soiree or to defend the gates of the other Kindred’s haven against approaching enemies.

Oath of Blood Alliance

Prerequisite: Covenant Status: Invictus •+ Cost: 1 or more Willpower

Dice Pool: This power is not actively rolled. Instead, it creates a mystic contract between two parties, both of whom must possess this power.

Action: Instant or extended. (The activation action must be extended to invest more than one Willpower point into the contract.)

The Kindred offering the reward grants temporary Willpower points to the serving vampire. To grant these Willpower points, the invoker must spend an equal number of his own Willpower points when swearing the Oath. Willpower points gained are in addition to those points the Kindred has in her normal Willpower pool, but the normal limit of one Willpower point per turn still applies. The serving Kindred may spend the bequeathed Willpower points on any dice pools he likes.

If the serving Kindred abandons the task before it is complete or fails to achieve it that night, he suffers an amount of bashing damage equal to twice the number of Willpower points originally invested in the ritual and loses any unspent, bequeathed Willpower points. The mystic power of the blood contract sears or bruises the servant’s flesh in his failure. This damage occurs shortly before dawn, as the Kindred’s blood first calls for sleep.

The power of this Oath lasts until the next sunrise.

A Kindred can only be the servant in one Oath of Blood Alliance at a time, and similarly can only grant rewards in a single Oath of Blood Alliance at a time. Thus, a single character can be involved in two Oaths of Blood Alliance simultaneously: once as the servant and once has the lord.

This power costs four experience points to learn.

Oath of Blood Service

The Oath of Blood Service is the most common longterm mutual Blood Oath, and, even so, is very rare. The servant swears to perform a particular service every night for a set period, and in return receives a benefit from the lord. Swearing the Oath is, unusually, more expensive for the lord, which means that few senior Kindred swear these Oaths lightly.

Oath of Blood Service

Prerequisite: Auspex •••, Majesty •••

Cost: 1 Vitae (spent by the lord) and 1 Willpower (spent by the vassal)

Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Majesty – vassal’s Resolve

Action: Instant

To invoke this Oath, the vassal must drink one Vitae from the lord’s veins, with all the risks of Vinculum and blood addiction that entails. The vassal then spends one Willpower point to tap into the power of the Blood.

For every success on the activation roll, the lord can grant the servant a one-dot bonus in a Skill or Discipline, up to a maximum of his own score in the Trait. These bonuses do not subtract from the lord’s score. The lord must have at least three dots in a Trait to be able to bequeath dots to a vassal. (As might be expected, Auspex and Majesty are commonly bestowed with this Devotion.) A vassal must have at least one dot in a Trait to receive the bonus.

While the vassal is bound by this mystic contract, his Willpower score is lowered by one dot for each bonus dot received from the lord. The vassal’s Willpower may not be raised with experience points while this Oath is in effect.

The service required of the vassal must customarily be one that takes most of the Kindred’s time. Basic hunting and similar nightly chores are possible, but, in general, this Devotion involves a full-time job. Seneschals and bodyguards are most likely to swear this Oath, but few other Kindred want to bother.

If the vassal or the lord breaks the Oath, the vassal loses access to dots in the granted Traits but regains his “suspended” Willpower dots. A vassal or lord can slowly erode the effects of this Oath by withdrawing or surrendering the Trait bonuses one dot at a time; each bonus dot cut from the bargain restores one “suspended” Willpower dot to the vassal.

Unlike some other Oaths, the lord has no way of knowing if his vassal has surrendered some aspect of the contract without personally investigating the vassal. Likewise, the vassal has no way of knowing that his mystic largesse has been withdrawn without attempting to use the Trait in question.

Example: Prince Leopold is entering into a Contract of Blood Service with his bodyguard, Kovacs. Neither of them has the power to invoke the mystic contract, so they call on their Notary to perform it for them. The Notary manages three successes on her activation roll, so Leopold grants

chapter five

Kovacs a +2 bonus to Vigor (in which Leopold has four dots) and a +1 bonus to Weaponry, thereby lowering Kovacs’ Willpower dots by 3. Kovacs feels that’s too much, and immediately surrenders one bonus dot of Vigor to get back one dot of Willpower.

This power costs 12 experience points to learn.

Oath of Blood Loyalty

The Oath of Blood Loyalty is the strongest mutual oath that two Kindred can swear, and places one forever in a subordinate position to the other. On the other hand, as compared to the Vinculum, this Oath guarantees, as far as is possible, mutual loyalty, and so there are many in the Invictus who regard this Oath as far more honorable than the cruder bonds of simple blood.

This Oath has been sworn only a few times to the knowledge of Invictus historians, and most of the pairs are known. Most famous is Richard of Walsingham, an English Ventrue who was served by no fewer than three other Kindred under such Oaths. Martin of Brest was his bodyguard, Sophie Delisle his Seneschal, and Katherine Cajas his agent. Richard was, for a time, thought of as one of the most powerful Princes in England, thought to four cities with the help of his servants. However, a coordinated attack by his enemies, striking against all of his servants at once, drove him into Final Death over a century ago. It is said that his screams as he fell before blows he could neither see nor defend against can still be heard in the Old Audience Chamber in London. Certainly, that room is no longer used for any purpose, and entrance is prohibited.

Oath of Blood Loyalty

Prerequisite: Auspex •••, Majesty ••••

Cost: 1 Vitae and 1 Willpower point from each party to the Oath. The vassal must also spend 1 Willpower dot. The Kindred activating the Devotion does not need to be a party to the Oath’s contract.

Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty Action: Instant.

This Oath can only be sworn by two Kindred whose wills are completely free — at least as regards the mystic qualities of the blood. Thus, this Oath cannot be sworn between a regnant and a thrall, or while one of the parties is influenced by any Discipline. The Oath can be sworn, however, even if one of the parties is misled as to the status or power of the other.

One of the two Kindred is the lord, the other the vassal. These roles are chosen when the Oath is sworn, and cannot be changed while the Oath is in effect. The two Kindred mingle their blood in some container, usually an ornate ceremonial chalice, and then drink it between them. The power of the Devotion

ensures that this does not establish even a partial Vinculum.

The lord may, at any time, use his vassal’s senses for a scene by expending one point of Vitae. The vassal cannot resist this power and, indeed, receives no indication that it is in effect.

Conversely, the vassal may, at any time, borrow the use of one of the lord’s Disciplines for a single scene, by expending one point of Willpower. The vassal gains full use of the Discipline at the lord’s score. The vassal may borrow more than one Discipline per scene, as long as he has the Willpower to spend. Only Disciplines with which both the lord and the vassal are trained — that is, in which they both have one or more dots — can be borrowed in this way.

When the vassal uses a “Discipline of largesse” from his lord, the vassal uses only the lord’s dots in the borrowed Discipline in concert with his own Traits. Thus, a vassal who borrows his lord’s five dots in Majesty would activate the power of Sovereignty using the vassal’s Presence and Intimidation, plus the lord’s dots in Majesty. The vassal must pay the cost to activate any power, in addition to the Willpower he spent to tap into his lord’s power.

While a Discipline power is borrowed, the lord can still use it, but that Discipline contributes no dice to any dice pool in which it is included. Thus, a lord with Majesty 5 could still use Sovereignty, but he would roll only Presence + Intimidation to activate it.

The lord may, at any time and across any distance, issue a command to his vassal by spending a single Willpower point. The vassal is not supernaturally compelled to follow this instruction, however, unless the lord empowers it with other Majesty or Dominate effects. Such effects work through the mystical connection of the Oath as though both parties were looking in each other’s eyes.

The ultimate dissuasion to abuse, however, is the final effect of the Oath. Any damage inflicted on one party to the Oath is echoed in the body of the other party. All wound penalties suffered by the vassal or lord are suffered by his counterpart as well. (A party with the Iron Stamina Merit can only protect himself from the pain of his own actual, physical injuries in this case — the supernatural cries of pain from a vassal without that Merit still hinder a lord with the Merit, for example.)

In the event that either party is dealt his Final Death, the other suffers the equivalent of a –3 wound penalty for a number of nights equal to the destroyed vampire’s Blood Potency, plus one point of aggravated damage for every dot of Resolve the destroyed vampire had.

This power costs 20 experience points to learn.