Clan Meetings and Clan Status

What are Clan Meetings

Clan meetings are to be agnostic of sect or political ties; these meetings are called with the primary focus of the clan first. Even if the Primogen is running it and the character may be an Anarch, it is still about the clan with no relation to the political factors or negative outcomes from being of a differing faction, unless reason is given. Primogen and Representatives will not allow factional disputes or aggression toward one particular faction.

Those shunned by the clan, will not be welcomed to Clan Meetings, though only the Primogen or representative-led ones will bar the shunned person. Meetings without a Primogen or Representative will be dependent based on the discretion of the attendees.

During meetings, we will be using threads and a masterpost style similar to how we do campaigns to cover all of the topics that we want to be discussed. What this means is that you’ll do smaller posts, even just one-line sentences, in this thread, and when you feel it’s over or you simply want to, you combine all of your posts with a header and put it into the appropriate channel on the server. This is to allow as much play as possible for different-sized clans and time zones, there is no turn order unless specifically asked for by the ST.

You can either do one master post or a series of master posts, but you must post it within that week to get the experience for that week, unlike campaigns. If you are unable to because of the meeting running later than anticipated or because of time zones, you are free to let the Justicars know, and they’ll add your exp on once the masterpost is up.

Clan Meeting Cooldowns

In order to allow the team that runs meetings a break (since there are so many clans in Seattle), we have a cooldown period for how often clans can have official meetings with the Primogen/Rep for the purpose of gaining a project. Meetings can still be called at any time when an emergency arises or if the clan wants to meet without the Primogen/Rep present. Any meeting that is ended early, has RL complications for the majority, or other situations that lead to no project to occur, may request one at an earlier date without waiting for the cooldown.

Cooldowns

Meetings with Reps: Once every 9 months.

Meetings without Reps: Whenever you’d like.

General Rules for Meetings without the Representative or Primogen

1. Meetings/Parties/Get Togethers for the clan are considered Player-Run Events, meaning that the players will need to coordinate together to ensure everyone who wants to be invited can be through knowing someone attending or being directly invited. We recommend players to use threads to have quick run-ins. Or for other members of the clan, not helping prepare the event, to help gather everyone who is currently not involved.
2. If there is a meeting that isn’t involving everyone or there is a deliberate attempt to exclude a player character… The person organizing this must inform the player OOC within the clan channel and openly and in good faith communicate this fact. If desired, they should come to an outcome or a plot that could be developed from this, before the meeting is held. Be considerate and polite to other players.
3. If your character feels slighted or bothered by the outcomes or happenings during a meeting, they may write or call/text during and report this to their primogen. Just remember about the Masquerade when using technology.

General Rules for Meetings with the Representative or Primogen

1. Players can OOC ask for the meeting to be held by the Primogen/Rep if the majority of the clan plans to attend. If the majority plans to attend, one player must have their character send a letter after informing the ST who plays the clan’s Primogen. This does not cost any perk points to send.
2. The Primogen or Representative will be played by an Archon or a Justicar, and the SPC may take the lead or may sit back, depending on the direction of the meeting. They are there to supervise the behavior within the meeting, not run the entire show. We leave this to players to work together collaboratively. These meetings will always be held in Kindred-safe and sect-agnostic locations.
3. Please let the ST know early in the week if there are particular topics or situations your characters wish to discuss. Meetings often occur when the largest number of players will be available, but not always when the ST is entirely available. It helps us know and prepare for these meetings ahead of time and prevent things from being sidelined that are important to your character.
4. Respect the ST and your fellow players’ time. Drama and chaos can be incredibly fun, but derailing a meeting where folks wanted to get something done can bum everyone out. Please be mindful of others and if you want to have your characters beef, there’s always time after or outside of the meeting!

How do projects work?

The process for a clan to begin a project is as follows; 

1. Have a clan meeting with the Clan’s Primogen or Representative present.
2. During the meeting, the characters may discuss their ideas and concepts for future projects; whatever is suggested should be noted in the coordination channel as to what it is. IE a Contact, Resources, etc. If you are struggling to come up with what it’d be mechanically, work with fellow players and the ST to determine this.
3. Once the ideas are pitched and characters are given their time to discuss, they may then bring it to a vote within the clan’s channel RP coordination. For any project to move forward, it must have the majority of the clan agreeing to it.
4. The type of project it will be is determined by what the task is. Projects will come with a set of rolls and story arcs they will follow. The Storytellers will provide the test as soon as they are able to. Please be patient.

What can we get?

Backgrounds such as Resources, Haven, Contacts, Influence, Herd, Allies, Fame.
Merits such as Side Hustler, Check the Trunk.
Anything that is physically tangible within the world, or could be purchased through money/connections. If there is something you wish to ask about the possibility of gaining as a project result, please do ask; however, do not argue or spend copious amounts of time debating the viability of something. Some desired Loresheets can be reflavored to fit as something listed above.

What can we not get?

Quirks of the blood, the mass majority of Loresheets (Currently, Kindred Iconography is the only one available through this system), and other things that are not tangible items are not likely to be possible with this system. Factional Status, changes to the story itself (such as low clans no longer being low clans) are not possible through the Project system. Cobbler cannot be gained this way; however, you can gain a Contact who can do that. Mawla cannot be gained this way.

Policy Changes

These are possible, but only in meetings where the Primogen is called and the Clan agrees to not have a project. The viability of such a change should be discussed OOC, and the majority of players in the clan should agree to have the scene. This might be things like changing or setting a clan-wide policy; for example, a prohibition on teaching secrets or Disciplines to those outside of the Clan. Understand that these meetings may likely end with no real change, but it is an option to be had instead of a project.

How big can a project be?

Projects are limited to 3-dots of merits/backgrounds total; the only exception is the first Haven a Clan gains. In that case, it is limited to 5-dots. However, the more dots the clan desires. The longer the project takes to complete, one fundamental concept for the project system is that the Clan will slowly build its power over time.

Any Haven over 3-dots can have a free slot for a Retainer (1-3 dots); this does not count against their current dots in the Haven. It is recommended to have a project either before or after the addition of a large haven to the clan to find a Retainer in order to keep the haven operating and safe.

Clans can have as many Havens as they wish to.

Once the project is done, how do we use it?

Once the project is done, the clan members are all able to access it, assuming they have purchased the first dot clan status. Havens are available the moment the project is completed; any character from the clan may enter this location and use it for sleeping. However, to access the Haven Merit bonuses, they must have at least the first dot of Status. Using Haven Merits does not cost perk points. This does not go on your character sheet; and when using it, please let the ST team know where it came from. Anyone can access this with the appropriate Status, including those who either did not participate but were active or those who joined in later.

All things gained from the project system have a once-per-story use; however, each character gets one use of it, independent of those in the clan having already used it.

Can we lose things gained from a project?

Yes, when using these things a Messy Critical or Bestial Failure can result in damage to the Backgrounds. This will never result in a complete loss of the Background, but can damage its use temporarily. Fixing this is determined by the Archon/Justicar team and is a task given by the Primogen and is usually a shortened test where the clan will be given a few rolls to make until a success threshold is met.

Clans are also locked to a maximum of 5 dots that they can manage, outside of the Clan Haven, which has a maximum of 6 dots.

The clan must agree to lose something to gain something new should they go over the limit. This is to prevent the larger, or more active clans, from steamrolling the smaller or more inactive clans. 

Levels of Status for Clans

Clan Status is measured across 8 levels, from Shunned (••) to Prominent (•••••), as outlined below: 

Status Point Thresholds

Points towards Clan Status can be gained or lost through character actions in play, or occasionally at ST discretion for events such as campaign rewards. The table below shows the threshold of points needed for a character to be able to purchase each level of Status with a given clan, according to the relationship with the clan.

Players should track points per clan, and points do not reset upon purchase of a level of Status. For example, a character who earned 20 points with their clan and purchased Status 2 before earning another 5 points would have a total of 25 points towards the threshold of 50 required by Status 3. If that character then lost 10 points they would lose access to the benefits of Status 2 until reaching the threshold again. 

Using Clan Status in Rolls

Remember that your Clan Status (whether for your own clan or a clan your character is not a member of) can be used to buff social rolls when talking to a member of the clan. As a rule of thumb, ask the ST or your fellow player/scene partner to approve the use of status for the specific scene/roll. When using Status in a roll, it is usually a roll composed of Attribute + Skill + Status.

Gaining Clan Status

There are many ways that characters can gain points toward Status with the various clans, including but not limited to:

• Participating in Clan Projects, a project given after certain clan meetings.
• Attending clan meetings.
• Interacting positively with clan SPCs, either through campaigns, odes, or random encounters. (Does not include clan meetings)
• Providing meaningful assistance to clan members (PC or SPC), such as helping take out an enemy, teaching them rituals, ceremonies, or alchemy, or a new meaningful skill, and solving issues that are a risk to them. (For teaching others rituals, ceremonies, and alchemy, you only get the Status point once per character taught.) Characters must write a letter to their Primo/Rep for the clan to be aware of the other person to gain Status points.

Whenever you believe your character has accomplished something worthy of status, please open a ticket to ask. This does not confirm you will gain any status points, but it helps put it on the team’s radar to receive points for certain actions. Anything submitted should have been unfolded within 2-4 months when ticket opening. 

Losing Clan Status

Similarly, there are many ways that characters can lose points toward Status, which may cause the character’s Status with a clan to temporarily decrease if it falls below the appropriate threshold, including but not limited to:
• Interacting negatively with clan SPCs
• Disgracing oneself in the eyes of the clan in public
• Breaching the Masquerade
• Betraying the clan, or breaking rules that the clan has decided upon and getting caught/reported.

Clan Status Perks

This only functions for the character’s clan, those with out of clan status cannot use this. Once per story, every character with Clan Status will receive Perk Points equal to the number of dots of Status they have in their clan. For example, a character with Status 3 in their Clan will receive 3 Perk Points. A character cannot have more Perk Points than their Clan Status allows. For example, if a character has Status 3 and does not use all 3 Perk Points within a story, they will only have 3 Perk Points at the start of the next story.

Any Clan Status gained through Loresheet levels is capped at 2; but if the LS provides more than 2 dots of Status, the entire amount can be added to social rolls only. For example: a Loresheet gives 3 dots of Clan Status. A character may add a +3 bonus to social rolls; but may only access level 1 and level 2 Perks. Any ‘situational’ Status gains from Loresheets (Status which only applies in specific locations or circumstances, not all of the time) cannot be used for Perks at all, only for the bonus to social rolls.

These Perk Points can be spent with the clan on associated Perks, which are unlocked by reaching levels of Clan Status. For example, a character with clan Status 2 can access Perks from levels 1 and 2, but not 3, 4, or 5. A Perk is considered to cost Perk Points equal to its Perk level, such as a level 2 Perk costing 2 Perk Points.

Perks accessed this way do not require use of the Boons/Prestation system, and will be tracked and handled using the #ask-the-st channel, where posts can be made with the “Perk” tag.

For the purpose of Perks, each year will be broken into four three-month stories. An announcement will be made leading up to when perk points are going to reset. This differs from other use of “story” as measure of time on server, which reflects a period of three months beginning that isn’t fixed and begins when invoked. Perks do not roll over to the next story. Those unused are lost, but they are refreshed to the level of the character’s Status with the clan. Increasing Status mid-story does allow for additional Perks immediately.

All Levels (Status 1-5)

Any number of clan members may use the merits gained by completed projects during a story; however, each individual PC’s usage of project-gained merits is limited by the number of Status dots the character has. For example: if a character has Status 2 in their Clan, they can use the Clan’s perks twice per story. If a member of the clan has no Status with their clan, they do not have access to any project-gained merits.

Level 1 Perks

• Grants access to all completed Clan Projects that are currently active.

Level 2 Perks

• Grants the ability to offer a haven to the Clan Rep/Primo to hold the meeting there. Remember that the Primo/Rep is in charge still, domain rules do not apply to havens during meetings.

Level 3 Perks

• Grants the ability to throw parties or other social gatherings for your Clan without meeting the entire Clan by hand. This does not extend to having a project, even if the Rep is sent an invite. The rep may or may not appear.

Level 4 Perks

• Your character’s vote counts as two whenever the Clan votes.

Level 5 Perks

• You can veto one idea presented at a meeting once every other meeting.
• Grants the ability to call for a meeting without a Rep/Primo, and they still get a project from the ST team. However, your character is responsible for all behavior and punishment at the meeting. Cruelty or mishandling/upsetting members of the clan can result in a severe status hit. Do not use this if you are unable to be active for the meeting, should RL complications occur, let the ST team know immediately.