THE MOVE TO VIENNA

THE MOVE TO VIENNA

the following year after his castle was attacked by anarchs led by the Brujah Tyler, and the proposal seemed forgotten. Few knew institutions of mankind: politics, commerce and the Church.

THE END OF THE ORDER As the decades wore on and vis grew less and less plentiful, the old Houses of the Order of Hermes slowly disappeared. Some mages blamed the growth of Reason for the decline in magic, and they pointed to the Tremere as the cause of this. After all, the Tremere had openly supported universities and fought superstition, all to further the Masquerade. The more people trusted scicncc, the less they would believe in the superstitions associated with vampires.

The surviving magi, however, saw a more sinister purpose.

As the world’s magic dried up, they became less powerful, and soon the Tremere would be the only magi able to work any of the old magics. The Order later became one of the most powerful Traditionsof magcs, but it hasonly afractionofitsformer might.

Strange rumors began tosurround the main Tremerechantry in Transylvani:] at this time. The worst of these rumors claimed he seeing how their After the death of Hadestadt, the idea of a league of vampires went nowhere for more than 50 years. Elders debated every aspect of its worth or, as the anarchs say, they waited for orden from their masters. The vampires did not react until anarchs destroyed the Tzimixe Antediluvian. Once again, they attempted to engineer an alliance hetween their disparate clans.

In 1450, theToreador Rafiael deCorazon finally made his famous speech, repeating over and over the Fifth Rule of the Co& of Caine, which led to the Camarilla and the Masquerade.

Camarillaor 1 the most mis- :he earlier, similar Order of Hermes. Rumors spread con. lg the clan’s later attempts to take Over the Order. Even the Tremere Cast the enchantment forcing the Assamites indon their diahlerie, it was whispered that the Tremere ;ed theopportunity to take magicalcontrolofthe Assamites. d, theTremeresoon stoppedclaiming to have beenresponjoined the new Tradition. Indeed, a number of mages claim the Tremere were in league with a force known as the Technocracy.

Some chim that the two forces are still allied ...

THE MOVE TO VIENNA and assigned to individual councildrs. These assignments were once almost viewed as forms of banishment, but the rapid growth of these new landsparticularly North Americahas brought an immense amount of power to those who control them.

Meerlinda makes her main headquarters in Dallas, Texas, but she has travelled across the continent. She has also begun spending a great deal oftime in Europe. Allowed seven Pontifices, she divided her territory into seven Orders. Five are territorial: the Eastern and Western Orders of Canada and the Eastern, Central, and Western Orders of the United States. Commerce, trade and business were established as a fourth Order while the directors of politics and religion formed the fifth.

These latter two Orders have no territorial boundaries, and they may establish chantries wherever the Tremere agree they are needed. Although chantry cooperation is a basic rule of the Tremere, their naturally competitive attitudes makes this combining of territorial and non-territorial Orders in a single area a never-ending source of disputes over rights and responsibilities.

Pontifices are expected to resolve their own problems, but often need to call upon their councilor for arbitration.

To add to this confusion, territorial Pontifices are encourchantries located outside their own geographic territories. These mission chantries are accorded a special set of rights and regulations, similar to those accorded to diplomatic embassies from foreign countries. Although such mission chantries have reand distinct from the European countries that colonized them, America, the cross-chantry ties created across Western and Eastern Europe are nearly beyond comprehension.

Each Pontifex commands seven Lords. Lords of the geographicOrderscommandspecificaIly demarcatedareas. InNorth America, these usitally cover several states. Non-territorial Orders assign their Lords responsibilities as the ruling Pontifex sees fit, frequently altering them to reflect the changing tides of government and business.

Meerlinda controls seven Pontifices. Although efforts were vast tracts of land to maintain and develop. Although growth and expansion were rapid, the unforeseen increase in longdistance trade and international politics has shifted the balance of power into the hands of the two Tremere controlling husinesg and government: John Diamond and Peter Dorfman, respecThe failure of Canada to develop along the lines of the U.S. led to the decision to remove control of the Canadian govern- : ment from Dorfman and transfer joint control to the two: the right to convene secret “Astor Councise the right to summanly hold trials and they see fit Those found guilty of major enna to await appearance before the Inner all eternity. The most common ones are the Lure of Flames, Movement of Mind, Weather Cdntrol, Path of Conjuring, Neptune’s Might, Spirit Thaumaturgy, Elemental Mastery and Corruption. Others exist, and more will be invented.

Each level of a Path increases the magnitude of power a great deal. Thus, while one level of Weather Control only allows its owner to summon up fog, four levels would allow her to call up a full-fledged thunderstorm. Each Path is limited to five levels. More extreme results, such as using Weather Control to summon a hurricane, would require the use of rituals.

Some Tremere have theorized that this limit is linked to the source of their magic. Thus, while mages use the magickal nature of reality manifested inQuintessence to work their rotes, vampires get their power wholly from within themselves. Rituals simulate that tie to the universe, however, and vampires cannot work the most powerful spells without them.

More knowledgeable Tremere have also suggested that this means vampires avoid the problems associated with “magick.”

Since they donot require the external ties that mages have, they avoid the paradoxes rnages sometimes create when they warp reality. In the words of the mages, vampires carry their own reality around with them and are not bound by anyone else’s Storytellers should feel free to allow characters to create new Paths, but only if they devote most of their time and energy to these efforts. A good rule of thumb is to require that the character have at least Thaumaturgy Five, spend 10 experience points for the first level of the new Path and then spend (current level x 5) for each level as they progress.

Each Path should have a consistent theme, and Storytellers should not allow the character to develop a hodge-podge of powers. For instance, should a character decide to create the Path of Magical Resistance, the first level might increase the difficulty for those who use magic against him by one. The fifth level, however, might allow the character to spend Blood Points to nullify another \,ampire’s Discipline or a particular sphere of Storytellers should never feel forced to let a character develop a new Path and should always be ready to make one a double-edged sword. For instance, the Path of Magical Resis.

Vampires get around the limits of Thaumaturgy through rituals, which allow them to do almost anything they can imagine. While vampires have separate levels for each Path and are limited by their overall score in Thaumaturgy, their rituals are only limited by their overall Thaumaturgy score. learning all they could teach you. When \ \ you had learned all they could teach you