Vampiric Territory Council

Overview:

   No one knows for sure where, when or why the Vampiric Territory Council (VTC) was formed.  Vampire lore relates that it originated when a group of HMVV infected individuals decided that it was time to stop fighting over "food".  Instead they decided to organize themselves into small gang like groups called families that would control a certain area of a city as their hunting grounds.  Regular disputes between families led to the formation of alliances of families called clans to arbitrate regional problems.  These clans later organized into a clan council that was charged with arbitrating disputes between clans.   This council consisted of the regional leader of each of the clans in a city.  Eventually a single leader who theoretically has authority over all undead in a given city came into existence.   Often called lords, these powerful beings primarily concern themselves with maintaining peace between the clans.  The clans, , maintain peace between the families.  Most of the appointments to family or clan councils are done by simple majority elections.    To be appointed to the position of lord a clan council member must secure 3/4ths of the clan council's votes.  Often clans on the losing side of the vote declare open war on the others.

    This representational system was so effective at quelling social problems in undead communities that it was rapidly adopted by many in the Americas and in Europe.  The lords of various cities are loosely organized in an organization called the 'Grand Council'.  This council is charged with the duty of handling conflicts involving undead from separate cities. 

    Though the system itself is quite stable, the personalities that those of a Vampiric nature develop over time tends to shake the very pillars of the system regularly. Interclan and interfamily conflicts are common as well as intraclan and intrafamily disputes.  This internal dissention is a key reason that the VTC has not gained more power than it currently has.

    An interesting facet of the VTC is that many clans have taken on their own personality and spread to many cities.   This creates a rather strange intercity network of alliances because a members of many clans feel that they their duty is to their clan instead of to their lord.   This creates a sort of rolling battle line as undead switch from the defense of their lord to the defense of the clan.  All of this makes politics in the VTC rather twisted with sudden friendships and even more sudden betrayals springing up often.

    It should also be noted that the VTC only represent around a third of the total undead world-wide.  The nonaligned undead are either in areas where the VTC doesn't have much power or are fierce individualists.  A small portion are members of other smaller organizations that are often called covens.

The Families

   Families are the lowest level of VTC organization. Their primary duty is controlling the 'hunting' in a given area and settling disputes between members.  Also they are often initiation groups for their higher level magic users. Though they are often rife with internal disputes they are usually the most stable level of organization. 

    Several types exist:

Regional:  These are the most common type of families.  They usually are formed of individuals who live or work in a single area and have decided to hunt in that area for convenience sake.

Metatype: The VTC is primarily ruled by vampires and a few of their more common brothers causing those of more exotic strains to form their own exclusive families for protection.  Conversely metatype families may be formed of people who believe that their type is superior to all others.  This is especially common in vampires and wendigos.  These are perhaps the second most common type of family.

Ethnic:  Racism exists even among those with similar afflictions.  These groups form of HMVV infected individuals who are of a specific race (used in the 1990s sense of color etc.), or are of a specific gender.

Belief:  Many times HMVV infected people will congregate around a central belief.   This belief can be anything from a religion, to a philosophical position, to a certain opinion about something. 

Victim:  These bizarre groups are composed of people who were originally infected by the same person.  Usually they form as a sort of support group to help each other deal with the change in their lives.  Often the group then evolves into a hunting team that tracks down their common infector and kills him.

Other:  Many other types of families exist.  Most have a set of requirements or beliefs that are somewhat like the strictures that are used in initiation groups.  

The Clans

   Clans are the midlevel of the VTC organization. They primarily are concerned with settling disputes between various families.  Each clan seems to have developed a personality with their own interests, beliefs, and customs.   Several clans are well established in many cities causing large scale interclan rivalries that often flash into violence.  These clashes often occur against the wishes of the reigning princes.

       Profiles of some of the Major clans:

Gothics:  Gothics are a clan composed primarily of families of vampires. It's members are obsessed with the classic vision of  Victorian  vampirism.  Their lives are filled with grand balls, parties, and court intrigues. Oddly enough they do not shun technology, and actually embrace it as the new form of servants.  Most Gothics are talented magicians who largely base their magic upon mental manipulation.  They have been known to use their powers to influence mortals and immortals alike.

The Gothics currently control clan councils in several key cities including Seattle and London.  Their reign may soon be coming to an end, however, because they have thus far failed to consolidate their rule by putting their own members in the position of lord.

Mirage:  Members of clan Mirage are usually vampires or banshees with strong magical backgrounds in Illusion.  They are known for creating massive illusions to lure their prey to them.  This skill with illusions has also made them particularly enmeshed in interclan politics often using their powers to sow the seeds of distrust among clans that stand against them.  Though to the outside world they appear to be among the most attractive and graceful clans of undead they are actually usually ugly and twisted creatures with anchored illusion spells enshrouding them.

Members of the Mirage a slightly distrusted by other clans who don't like having their senses deceived.  Their great skills of trickery have gained them a fair amount of power in clan councils but that may change because they have recently been weakened by a war with the clan Feral.

Feral:  Members of this violent clan are normally wendigos though all types are well represented.  In many ways they can hardly be considered a clan at all but are instead an erratic alliance of families with a common philosophy.  This philosophy is that physical violence is innately superior to the deception that many of their more civilized brethren indulge in.  Most families also have a strong anti-technology bias, usually preferring to use their bare hands in combat.   Quite appropriately, all elections to the family or clan councils are decided in melee combat.    Their magicians tend to be shamans of predatory totems and rarely learn any spell types other than combat and damaging manipulations.  When they hunt they usually wear colorful leather clothing.

Though the Feral are one of the largest clans they have very little real power in the clan council.  They are generally considered with revulsion and slight fear by other clans.  In return they hate most of the other clans with a passion and are almost always at war with one of them. Currently they are recovering from a recent war with the clan Mirage.

Technics: The Technics are the technophiles of the undead.  They are composed primarily of vampires and a few banshees.  Their members are almost always former Deckers, Riggers, or other technologically dependant people who are suffering from the massive changes in their lives from the rejection of their cyberware.  More than any other clan they use technology as an integral part of hunting.  Many of there number go so far as to actually worship technology as a god and the Matrix as a sort of Nirvana where those who were truly devoted to technology will ascend to after death to serve their master.  The Technics have the most extensive webs of contacts and connections of any clan allowing them to find virtually any item in a matter of days.  Around 98% of magically active Technics are mages.

The Technics are considered to be too extreme by most clans and are thus considered with more than a little distrust.  They have, however, been able to build a small pool of influence by acting as weapons and information dealers to other clans.  They have a long standing rivalry with the clan Feral and some say are considering striking them while they are weak. 

Others: Several other large clans exist.  When designing them be sure to consider what kinds of relationships they will have with other clans.

This is currently a work in progress so I would really love any feed back you can give me.  Please write me if you have any ideas or an opinion on it.

All the articles and additions on Prometheus' Shadowrun Vault are copyright of their respective authors. Shadowrun is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. Original Shadowrun material Copyright 1994 by FASA Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA Corporation's copyrighted material or trademarks in this site should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.

people have visited here!