Detritus
01-21-2008, 10:12 AM
Since the topic has a good chance of looming large over the remainder of the adventure, here is some explication of the subject. Prestation is the social system that forms the basis of the Camarilla.
Prestation is unique among vampire social compacts in that the other sects all rely on some degree of mysticism or myth to hold their society together, but prestation is an entirely social phenomenon.
At its most fundamental level, prestation seems like the most obvious, sensible, and benign of concepts. The whole essence of prestation can be summed up in a single sentence; "Any service or favor must be reciprocated with a proportionate favor or service." However, once filtered through the fundamental perversity of vampiric nature, prestation becomes a thing of Byzantine complexity and terrible power.
When a vampire receives a service or boon from another, prestation places him in the debt of the giver. This puts the giver in a position of dominance over the receiver, until the receiver can balance the ledger by repaying the favor.
As a class, vampires love dominating others, but bitterly hate being in a position of submission. Nonetheless, they submit under the dictates of prestation because the alternative is the contempt of their peers. Vampires very often do not mind being hated, and usually enjoy being feared, but they cannot bear to be held in contempt. Noxious as they find the idea of any sort of submission, honorable submission is preferable to being despised.
Once a debt is incurred, the vampire owed can "call it in" at any time, asking any theoretically proportionate service he wishes to name. However, there is no real deadline to do so. Much of the time a vampire will simply hold the debt over his debtors, never demanding anything in return except that they remember they are in his debt. Of course, if such vampires do manage to deliver some proportionate service -- whether asked for or not -- prestation requires that the former bestower acknowledge that the debt has been erased.
If a vampire is in another's debt, he must treat that other with all courtesy. Putting an elder or superior in your debt is particularly sweet, because you are then entitled by prestation to treat that elder with a familiarity far beyond that of your peers (the exact degree of informality is, of course, dependent upon the relative Status of the vampires in the equation and the degree of service performed). Prestation cannot permit one to disobey an elder or a superior, but it does entitle one to a greater degree of familiarity, which can be used as a path to power.
Almost any act which involves another Kindred in any way can potentially have profound consequences in terms of prestation. Skills which may be used to accurately evaluate a given act's prestation repercussions include Politics (Camarilla), Diplomacy, and Savoir-Faire.
There is no formal code of prestation, but it has at least two rules which are unwritten but nonetheless absolute:
It is a great dishonor to insult or threaten in any way a vampire to whom you are indebted, or who is indebted to you. It is this aspect of prestation that actually holds the Camarilla together. If a vampire insults, threatens, or endangers any other that he owes, or that owes him, the disrespectful one immediately loses respect in the eyes of the whole vampire community. Furthermore, if one vampire in a bond of prestation violates the honor of that bond, the other, by ancient right, is entitled to engage him in a fight to Final Death, through combat, magic, or intrigue. Thus prestation is enforced by the two things vampires fear most, contempt of their peers and the end of their existence. Minor vampires abide by prestation because they do not wish to lose their lives, great vampires because they cannot afford to lose the respect of their subordinates and peers.
A vampire can never be forced to go to Final Death in payment for prestation. There is a limit to the demands of prestation, and this is it. No matter how great the debt incurred, the debtor can never be forced to end his own existence. Of course, the Kindred are masters of intrigue, and in reality prestation is often used to send some unwitting victim of some plot or plan off to his doom... but it is absolutely essential that the plotter at least preserve the illusion that both the debtor and the vampire being repaid thought that there was a reasonable chance of survival -- accidents do happen, after all.
If prestation is the system, then boons are the currency of that system. Whenever a vampire incurs a debt to another, that vampire is said to owe a boon to his benefactor. Like prestation, there is no formal code for boons, but the following can serve as an informal scale by which to judge the magnitude of boons:
1. Trivial boon - Delivery, helping with a plan. Unsolicited information.
2. Minor boon - Helping carry out a plan. Important advice. Solicited information. Hosting a social gathering.
3. Moderate boon - Aiding in battle. Helping the other out of trouble.
4. Major boon - Direct intervention in a very dangerous situation. Saving the life of the Vampire's immediate kin.
5. Life boon - Saving the life of the other Kindred.
If a boon indirectly helps other Kindred besides the one that receives it, then these other Kindred may also be indebted to the giver, albeit to a lesser degree than the one upon whom the boon was bestowed. This web of penumbral indebtedness can have far-reaching effects, as you might imagine, and is the foundation for civilized Kindred society, such that it is.
Prestation is unique among vampire social compacts in that the other sects all rely on some degree of mysticism or myth to hold their society together, but prestation is an entirely social phenomenon.
At its most fundamental level, prestation seems like the most obvious, sensible, and benign of concepts. The whole essence of prestation can be summed up in a single sentence; "Any service or favor must be reciprocated with a proportionate favor or service." However, once filtered through the fundamental perversity of vampiric nature, prestation becomes a thing of Byzantine complexity and terrible power.
When a vampire receives a service or boon from another, prestation places him in the debt of the giver. This puts the giver in a position of dominance over the receiver, until the receiver can balance the ledger by repaying the favor.
As a class, vampires love dominating others, but bitterly hate being in a position of submission. Nonetheless, they submit under the dictates of prestation because the alternative is the contempt of their peers. Vampires very often do not mind being hated, and usually enjoy being feared, but they cannot bear to be held in contempt. Noxious as they find the idea of any sort of submission, honorable submission is preferable to being despised.
Once a debt is incurred, the vampire owed can "call it in" at any time, asking any theoretically proportionate service he wishes to name. However, there is no real deadline to do so. Much of the time a vampire will simply hold the debt over his debtors, never demanding anything in return except that they remember they are in his debt. Of course, if such vampires do manage to deliver some proportionate service -- whether asked for or not -- prestation requires that the former bestower acknowledge that the debt has been erased.
If a vampire is in another's debt, he must treat that other with all courtesy. Putting an elder or superior in your debt is particularly sweet, because you are then entitled by prestation to treat that elder with a familiarity far beyond that of your peers (the exact degree of informality is, of course, dependent upon the relative Status of the vampires in the equation and the degree of service performed). Prestation cannot permit one to disobey an elder or a superior, but it does entitle one to a greater degree of familiarity, which can be used as a path to power.
Almost any act which involves another Kindred in any way can potentially have profound consequences in terms of prestation. Skills which may be used to accurately evaluate a given act's prestation repercussions include Politics (Camarilla), Diplomacy, and Savoir-Faire.
There is no formal code of prestation, but it has at least two rules which are unwritten but nonetheless absolute:
It is a great dishonor to insult or threaten in any way a vampire to whom you are indebted, or who is indebted to you. It is this aspect of prestation that actually holds the Camarilla together. If a vampire insults, threatens, or endangers any other that he owes, or that owes him, the disrespectful one immediately loses respect in the eyes of the whole vampire community. Furthermore, if one vampire in a bond of prestation violates the honor of that bond, the other, by ancient right, is entitled to engage him in a fight to Final Death, through combat, magic, or intrigue. Thus prestation is enforced by the two things vampires fear most, contempt of their peers and the end of their existence. Minor vampires abide by prestation because they do not wish to lose their lives, great vampires because they cannot afford to lose the respect of their subordinates and peers.
A vampire can never be forced to go to Final Death in payment for prestation. There is a limit to the demands of prestation, and this is it. No matter how great the debt incurred, the debtor can never be forced to end his own existence. Of course, the Kindred are masters of intrigue, and in reality prestation is often used to send some unwitting victim of some plot or plan off to his doom... but it is absolutely essential that the plotter at least preserve the illusion that both the debtor and the vampire being repaid thought that there was a reasonable chance of survival -- accidents do happen, after all.
If prestation is the system, then boons are the currency of that system. Whenever a vampire incurs a debt to another, that vampire is said to owe a boon to his benefactor. Like prestation, there is no formal code for boons, but the following can serve as an informal scale by which to judge the magnitude of boons:
1. Trivial boon - Delivery, helping with a plan. Unsolicited information.
2. Minor boon - Helping carry out a plan. Important advice. Solicited information. Hosting a social gathering.
3. Moderate boon - Aiding in battle. Helping the other out of trouble.
4. Major boon - Direct intervention in a very dangerous situation. Saving the life of the Vampire's immediate kin.
5. Life boon - Saving the life of the other Kindred.
If a boon indirectly helps other Kindred besides the one that receives it, then these other Kindred may also be indebted to the giver, albeit to a lesser degree than the one upon whom the boon was bestowed. This web of penumbral indebtedness can have far-reaching effects, as you might imagine, and is the foundation for civilized Kindred society, such that it is.