The vaulderie

[Tami]

The progenitors of the Sabbat were once enslaved by their elders, blood bound into submission and thrown to the fires of the Inquisition. In a last ditch effort to break free and repay their creator's kindness, they created the ritual known as the Vaulderie. It broke blood bonds of ancient strength and bound the desperate rebels to each other. They were inclined to save each other and developed the infamous Sabbat pack mentality. Practiced by all Sabbat, new and old, this ritual combines the blood of all present at it in a chalice and each participant has a drink.

In this way, the first members of the Sabbat threw off the blood bonds that their elders had forced upon them, stood together, and took back their free will. It is a centerpiece ritual in the sect, and one of the few sure-fire ways to break the hold of a blood bond. More than a few Camarilla vampires have fled to the Sabbat while they could, risking death in the fluxuating ranks of the monstrous sect, to be rid of a blood bond.

The Vaulderie helps glue the Sabbat together, and should be used at every available opportunity.

[Tami]

Vaulderie
by Luke Slater ([e-mail])(Not Cannon, but real good ideas and options)

The Vaulderie is the heart and soul of the Sabbat. More than just an important rite, the Vaulderie is, more than anything else, what defines Sabbat to themselves. It binds the pack and the sect together, creating the potent loyalty which gives the Sabbat its united appearance. The following are a number of suggestions for adding depth and variety to the Vaulderie.

The Vaulderie Grail
According to the Guide to the Sabbat, the Vaulderie requires a special cutting implement, used only for the ritual. An alternative however, is that instead of the knife, the importance is in the vessel in which the blood is gathered. These vessels are called chalices, or grails, and each is dedicated to the use of a single pack.

When a Sabbat pack is created, its members share in their first Vaulderie. This rite is the single most important moment in the life of the pack, for it is at this moment that they choose the course that they will steer together. At this point, the Grail is chosen, and the choice of vessel goes a long way to determining the pack’s nature and cause. A militant pack might drink from a fallen comrade’s helmet – as indeed might a biker pack – or a fallen foe’s skull. A more spiritual pack might choose a literal chalice or grail, something akin to the cups of a tarot deck. A pack devoted to academic and scientific investigation – such as, for example, a pack composed largely of Necronomists – might consecrate a large beaker or other laboratory vessel.

Any vessel may be chosen as the grail. It need not have any monetary value or specific occult significance. The grail belongs to the pack, and as such, it need not mean anything to anyone else. A half-broken bottle, an upended drum, anything can be a Vaulderie grail, so long as it has some significance to the pack. Conversely, no vessel, however valuable, however laden with symbolism, can be the grail if it has no particular meaning to the pack members. A final consideration, especially for nomad packs, is durability: metal and stone vessels are typically favoured over glass and ceramics, although a fragile grail may be selected if a pack forms only to perform a certain task.

Whatever the choice, at the first Vaulderie, that grail is consecrated to the pack. The blood of the members is mixed in the vessel, and thus the grail is baptised in the blood of the pack. From thereon in, the pack will share the Vaulderie only from their grail. Only when the grail is used will the pack’s vinicula be increased; anything else is a Casual Vaulderie (see below). Additionally, the grail is required to induct any new packmate, and will be used in any Creation Rite the pack may have to perform.

Should the grail be destroyed, the pack would be broken, and forced to dissolve. While viniculum ratings would be unaffected, the special bonds between packmates (see Blood of the Pack, below) would be shattered. While some might have the strength to reunite in a new pack, with a new grail, for many the loss of the grail is too traumatic, and the members of the shattered pack find themselves almost unable to face each other around a Vaulderie circle.

In the case of a short-term pack formed for a specific mission, the grail may be shattered at the conclusion of their business.

To destroy or attempt to destroy another pack’s grail is a grave insult, and is usually considered a declaration of war, as well as a vicious attack on the pack’s unity and morale. In the event that two packs find themselves in open conflict, the victor may destroy the grail of their defeated foes, as a final insult. In particular, a pack attacked by another without cause is considered to have the right to shatter the aggressor’s grail as punishment. Stealing a pack’s grail is likewise a gross insult. It may sometimes provide a key to manipulating a pack for a time, but ultimately such an act must be punished by death. On occasion, the grails of two packs may be made the prizes in a form of pack monomacy; a game of Capture the Grail. This should only ever be done by the full consent of both packs however, and is not recommended for those with glass or ceramic grails.

If the grail survives the break-up of a pack, it can be re-consecrated to a new pack, especially one that contains several members of the old, and which is dedicated to a similar goal. If a pack is all but wiped out, or splits in acrimonious circumstances, it is more common to see the grail broken, buried, or simply retired by the survivors. Very occasionally, a particularly renowned pack may arrange for their grail to be taken up by another in the event of their fall in battle, passing on their pack name and mantle.

Finally, in the event of some great tragedy striking a pack, the survivors may feel that they wish to mark the event by changing the name and/or purpose of their pack. In this event, an appropriate grail may be re-consecrated to the new pack, or the old grail may be retired and a new one consecrated.

In summary, the consecration, re-consecration, retirement, loss or destruction of a Vaulderie grail should always have a dramatic impact on a pack. In essence, the grail represents the unity of the pack in the Vaulderie, and its fate is seen to be directly tied to that of the pack.

Degrees of Vaulderie

Casual Vaulderie
A Casual Vaulderie takes place between Sabbat who are not packmates, at times of special celebration, or prior to an important battle. The officiating Sabbat must have at least 1 dot in Rituals to perform this grade of Vaulderie, which generates a short-lived, almost euphoric sense of camaraderie and purpose in the recipients. When this feeling fades, many Sabbat are left with a craving for the closeness of a true Vaulderie. Participants with existing vinicula should roll for maintenance, but no new blood ties will be formed by this rite.

A Casual Vaulderie may be performed with any vessel and any blade, and requires a Sabbat with at least one dot in Rituals to perform.

Common Vaulderie
Typically performed by a senior Sabbat cleric, for the benefit of the members of two or more packs under his authority, it is used – like a casual Vaulderie – to affirm the Sect’s unity in preparation for battle, or to celebrate a victory. In packs or other groups, the Bishop or Cardinal performs the Vaulderie rite, using a vessel which has some significance to the battle or victory at hand. The Bishop actively participates in each individual rite. This grade of Vaulderie both maintains and creates vinicula between the participants.

The Common Vaulderie requires a vessel associated with the cause for the rite, and a dedicated bloodletting blade. The officiating cleric must have at least three dots in Rituals, and must have been created a Bishop, or at least have equivalent status with the Sabbat for whom the rite is performed.

Grail Vaulderie
Grail Vaulderies are the most common form practised within a Sabbat pack. They are intensely personalised (see Pack Rites, below), and one pack’s Vaulderie may differ in almost every particular from that of another, even if the two packs are very similar. Grail Vaulderies may be performed at any time, and with any portion of the pack, but it is considered bad luck for the entire pack not to share the rite on the anniversary of the grail’s consecration. It is a rare honour for an outsider – even a Bishop or higher grade – to be invited to share in a Grail Vaulderie, and a mortal insult to refuse.

A Grail Vaulderie must be officiated by the pack Priest, or the Ductus if the priest is not present. Other pack members may share in casual Vaulderies, but without one of the two leaders, a Grail Vaulderie may not be performed. Naturally, the pack’s grail is required for the rite, but any knife may be used to spill the blood. Some packs even make a point of having each member spill their blood with their own blade.

The officiating Sabbat must have at least two dots in Rituals to successfully perform a Grail Vaulderie. This will maintain the pack’s vinicula, but not create new viniculi. If an outsider is invited to join the pack for the rite, and the officiator has at least three dots in rituals, then a slight variation allows the rite to create new vinicula.

NB: The enhanced variation of the Grail rite is never used to invest new pack members. That is the role of a Creation Vaulderie.

Creation Vaulderie
The Creation Vaulderie is conducted, following the giving of the Creation Rites, or on the adoption of a packless veteran, to invest a new member of the pack. This is one of the most powerful of all Vaulderies, as it consecrates a new member to the grail, allowing them to share in the Grail rites and become part of the Blood of the Pack. Without a Creation Vaulderie, a Sabbat is not a member of a pack. A Sabbat may not be a member of two packs, and participating in a new Creation Vaulderie breaks the bonds – but not the viniculi – to your old pack. Unless it is destroyed, or disbanded, or its grail broken, it is considered good form to perform Separation and Contrition Rites with your old pack before undergoing a new Creation Vaulderie.

The Creation Vaulderie can both create and maintain vinicula, and furthermore can begin the process of dissolving a pre-existing Blood Bond (see Breaking the Chains).

The Creation Vaulderie requires the use of the pack’s grail, and a knife donated by the new member. The officiator must be the pack Priest (not even the Ductus may perform a Creation Vaulderie), and must have at least three dots in Rituals, and the entire pack must be present. Aside from the Sabbat being accepted into the pack, no outsiders may participate in a Creation Vaulderie.

Consecration Vaulderie
The most potent Vaulderie is that performed as the sanctifying of a new pack and its grail. Unlike other degrees, the Consecration Vaulderie must be performed at a specific time, which has some special significance to the group who wish to become a pack. Frequently, either the full moon or the new moon is chosen, but other packs may use an equinox or solstice, or the anniversary of some momentous event. If a pack reforms after the loss of a grail, it is traditional to consecrate the new union on the anniversary of the old pack’s destruction.

On the chosen date, the entire pack must gather. Any Sabbat who is chosen to participate, but fails to show up without a very convincing reason – werewolf attack, captivity, or being followed by the Camarilla or other enemies are considered just about sufficient – will never be permitted to join the pack. Anyone who interferes in the attendance of a chosen member, or who interrupts the Consecration itself, can expect no mercy. In such an instance, the rite is usually repeated at the next appropriate date, using the skull of the offender as the grail.

The Consecration must be performed by the priest-to-be, who must have at least four dots in Rituals. If the priest has too little experience to perform the rite, the pack and grail maybe consecrated by a Bishop or higher status Sabbat who will neither give nor take blood from the grail. Naturally, the chosen grail must be used as the vessel, and traditionalists will use a virgin knife for the Consecration, and then bury the blade at the site of the pack’s birth. If the Priest fails his roll on this rite, it is considered extraordinarily bad luck, and the would-be pack will usually disband.

The Consecration Vaulderie creates a viniculum between all of the pack members, adds one point (no roll) to any existing ratings between pack members, and subtracts one (no roll) from any viniculum rating held towards outsiders, and begins the process of eroding the Blood Bond. Additionally, it breaks the special ties which might have existed towards any other pack, in the same way as the Creation Vaulderie, and begins the process of creating such ties within the new pack (see Blood of the Pack).

[Tami]

Vinicula

There are a number of means of determining viniculum ratings, according to preference.

The Guide to the Sabbat states that whenever you share the Vaulderie with someone new, you gain a random rating rolled on a single die. This provides for dramatic intra-pack dynamics, but has the drawback that it can effectively Blood Bond a character with a bad roll.

An alternative – especially if determining viniculum ratings for characters created as a pack – is to roll two dice and average the result. This cuts down on extreme ratings and starts the pack at a more balanced level.

If performing the Vaulderie in game, one option is to assume that all vinicula begin at one. This prevents sudden shifts in balance, but makes the Vaulderie too tame for some tastes. Another alternative, between the extremes, is to halve the dice roll, giving starting ratings between 1 and 5. Introducing other shapes of die, you could also use a D4, D6 or D8, or whatever takes your fancy. This gives variety without risking the sudden subjugation of any one character.

While the viniculum is essentially a form of Blood Bond, it is also a mystical rite. As such, you may wish to rule that the merit Unbondable does not offer protection against vinicula, or that it merely reduces all rolls relating to vinicula by 2. Likewise, Infertile Vitae would reduce the roll for vinicula towards the character by 2, Weak Vitae or Thin Blood by 1, and Strong Vitae would raise the rolls by 2. In any such case, the lowest staring rating would still be 1. The maximum rating would still be 10 of course, and you might prefer to cap starting ratings more strictly as well.

An alternative is to cap maximum vinicula towards the Weak and Thin Blooded, say at 5 or 6. You could also say that as the Vaulderie’s magic works mutual to create bonds of similarity, the Unbondable and Infertile Vitae’d alike can neither create nor experience vinicula.

If one of the participants possesses Addictive Blood, then it makes sense to say that it will transfer its property to the mingled blood. Since the source is uncertain, unless one of the participants later feeds directly from the addictive vampire, their craving will be for further Vaulderies with the same participants as before.

Once a viniculum exists, further Vaulderies may or may not strengthen it. In the standard system, for each co-participant in the Vaulderie, you roll a die. If higher than the existing rating, it rises by one; if you roll a one, the rating drops a point. If the modifiers for blood-related Merits and Flaws are being used, then only a natural one would reduce the rating.

By the Guide to the Sabbat, rolling a one during maintenance is the only thing that ever reduces vinicula. An alternative is to state that unmaintained vinicula drop over time, perhaps at a rate of one point every month, or – for longer lasting bonds – one point every 12-Willpower months (so if a vampire has Willpower 6, each of his vinicula drops one point each time it goes unmaintained for 6 months). A viniculum will not drop so long as the bond is maintained, even if the player consistently rolls below the current rating, so that the viniculum never rises.

Blood of the Pack
Once mixed and consecrated in the grail, the blood of a pack’s members becomes something else; the Blood of the Pack. This blood may be used in pack-specific rites, such as the anointing of a new priest or ductus or the blessing of the pack prior to battle. Even in a common Vaulderie, the blood in the vessel becomes transformed, and can be used by the officiating cleric for battle and celebratory rites, but the Blood of the Pack is a more potent transubstantiation.

The Blood of the Pack runs deeper than the base of the grail. As each member of the pack drinks, he takes the Blood into himself. In addition to the creation of the vinicula, this is what makes the Sabbat part of the pack, and the pack a part of him. The more often a vampire drinks the Blood of the Pack, the more it becomes part of him. Members of a long-established pack taste alike; to a connoisseur of vitae, or a Tremere employing the Taste of Vitae, it is easy to discern the intense connection between packmates. Nomad packs in particular, who live and rest so close together, also begin to take on each other’s scents.

On the deepest level, the members of a pack share a connection unlike that enjoyed by any other vampire. This begins with a heightened awareness of the packmates’ physical proximity, a comforting presence at the back of the Sabbat’s field of perception. As the pack grows closer, the members develop a deep, empathic bond. They become sensitive, and responsive, to each others’ emotions at an entirely subconscious level. When one is enraged, all become restive; if two of the pack are lovers, the rest will find their passions riding higher in response. In battle they often display almost preternatural co-ordination, gaining a bonus of one or two dice to rolls relating to pack tactics.

On the flipside, once these bonds are established, the death of a packmate creates a deep and painful sense of loss. Even being apart from the pack for more than a few nights can become traumatic for the sensitive. For nomads in particular, it can become difficult to rest well by day without the scent and feeling of the pack around you. The loss of a packmate to another pack can be almost as traumatic, as the necessary Separation Rites sever that closeness which the pack have come to take for granted. An awareness of the packmates’ wellbeing also develops, and it becomes hard to conceal a hurt – be it physical or psychological – from the pack.

The Blood of the Pack also serves to protect the pack members from each other in combat. In all but the most severe of frenzies, a Sabbat will not attack his packmates; it is the Blood of the Pack which provides this important protection. The Common Vaulderie provides a similar but more limited form of protection, and a Sabbat in a low-level frenzy will recognise as friends those they have taken a Common Vaulderie with in the last day or so. The Blood of the Pack makes stronger ties however, as the ‘Pack scent’ means that not only does the frenzied vampire see an ally, he almost sees himself through the haze of frenzy. For a long-established pack, only the deepest frenzy – a botch on the frenzy roll – will cause one pack member to attack another.

At an advanced stage – arriving after probably no less than a century together – the pack has become frightening in its unity. All members will instinctively become passionate about each others’ causes without knowing why. An insult or threat to one pack member affects all. Also, mannerisms, turns of phrase and affectations may begin to be shared among the pack. While the members remain distinct, it is hard now to miss that they share a bond. Once a pack becomes so close, they will be able to sense the death of a comrade over almost any distance, as though a sound of which they were not truly aware has been suddenly silenced.

All of these effects are increased dramatically for any member of the pack with Auspex. While for most Sabbat these effects – in particular emotional sensitivity – are a major issue only in the presence of their packmates, for a skilled ‘Spexer the Blood of the Pack is a constant companion. The Sabbat is constantly aware of his packmates as a tugging at his mind, the emotions and wellbeing open to be read. The death of a long-term packmate will be a palpable, almost physical pain to such an individual, even many miles distant.

It should be noted that, like the viniculum, and the Blood Bond, the ties formed by the Blood of the Pack do not make the members of a pack like each other any more than they do anyway. What it means is that – in some sense or other – the pack transcends the individual. While you may spar with your packmates – may even hate them – they are ultimately the people in the world who are closest to you, and you know without telling that when something happens to one of them, you are supposed to do something about it.

An additional drawback to the Blood of the Pack is that a Thaumaturgist who managed to get hold of a sample of the pure Blood could use it to trace or spellbind any member of the pack. Blood from one or more the pack members adds one die to any magical effect cast against any member of the pack, using that blood as a focus. If the magician manages to get hold of the pure Pack Blood from the Vaulderie grail, he may add three dice. For this reason, pack priests usually clean out the grail after use, and burn the cloth they use to do it. Many magicians will pay a high price for Pack Blood.

Once established, these bonds do not fade easily, even once vinicula have faded. There are four basic ways to break the ties between packmates. The first is to undergo another Creation or Consecration Vaulderie, becoming a member of a different pack. This breaks your ties to the old pack, replacing them with ties to the new. These new ties will not initially be so strong however, and consequently the Sabbat will feel deep regrets for a time about leaving his old comrades. Furthermore, it is usually considered bad luck to be accepted into a new pack without first undergoing a formal separation from your old pack.

The remaining means of parting the bonds are the ignoblis ritae of the Separation Rite and the Rite of Dissolution, and the shattering of the Vaulderie grail.

Separation Rite
The Separation Rite – sometimes called the Severing – is an ignoblis ritus performed when a Sabbat wishes to leave a pack. The Rite takes the form of a Grail Vaulderie, but each member wishing to leave the pack must spill his blood on the earth, not in the grail, and may not partake of the Blood of the Pack. As with all grail rites, the specifics may vary from pack to pack. The Separation is immediate and fairly traumatic, dissolving the ties that existed to the former packmate in a matter of hours. Performing the Rite leaves all concerned with an empty feeling deep in their hearts, as the sense of a packmate is cut off.

Some Sabbat have been known to be so overcome by the loneliness that follows the loss of all of their connections, that they end their own existence after performing a Separation Rite to leave their old pack. Traditionally therefore, immediately after the Separation, the departing packmates perform a Contrition towards their old pack, whom they have wounded, and then partake of a Creation or Consecration Vaulderie with a new pack. Some packs however refuse to Create a new member until a month or more after leaving an old pack.

For the other pack members, the Rite also acts as a pack Vaulderie. The Rite does not affect the departing member’s viniculum ratings, nor any ratings towards them.

The Separation Rite must be performed by the pack priest, who must have at least three dots of Rituals.

Rite of Dissolution
The Rite of Dissolution is used when an entire pack decides to either go its separate ways, or to be absorbed into another pack. The pack gather, as if for a Grail Vaulderie, but the grail is inverted, and as it comes to each member’s turn to spill their blood, they turn their back on the grail. As with all grail rites, the details for any given pack may vary according to taste. The Rite deconsecrates the grail, and the pack will usually bury the retired vessel after the completion of the Dissolution. Being a mutual disbanding, the bonds between packmates are broken more gently by a Dissolution than by a Separation. They fade over a period of days, and while a sense of loss is inevitable, it lacks the traumatic force of the Severing.

The Rite of Dissolution often follows a disastrous defeat, and must be performed by the most senior surviving pack member if the priest and ductus are slain. It requires at least two dots in Rituals. Lacking a sufficiently skilled ritualist, the pack may simply go their separate ways, but the ties of the Blood of the Pack will tug at them until they join a new pack, and it is considered bad luck not to formally leave your pack before entering a new one, even if by mutual consent.

Shattering the Grail
The most traumatic way to cut the bonds of the Blood of the Pack is to shatter the Vaulderie grail. Shattering the grail requires that it be rendered useless as a vessel, usually by breaking or puncturing it, depending on its composition. Metal may be cut or punched through, stone cracked and glass smashed. Wood is usually sawed or drilled. Any which way, once the grail is no longer usable as a vessel for blood, the pack is broken, and the bonds between packmates shatter.

There is no way to shatter a grail without the pack knowing. Even newly-formed packs will experience a dull ache of loss; for experienced packs, the pain of sudden separation may be momentarily crippling, and can be enough to drive members to suicide. Furthermore, the rupturing of that special bond sours all other relations. All vinicula between the pack drop by one, friendships become strained, loves turn to distrust and hatred as the lovers keenly feel the loss of closeness. In most cases, with the best will in the world, the pack members will never come together to reconsecrate under a new name and with a new grail.

They usually continue to work together only until the ones who broke their grail have been exterminated, then go their separate ways. Only after many years may the scars have faded enough for the pack members to meet without discomfort. Obviously, the destruction of a grail is a heinous crime among the Sabbat, and nothing short of a declaration of blood feud. Unsurprisingly, Sabbat packs guard their grails jealously, and few people will trust a pack who are known to have shattered a grail without lethal provocation.

The only instance in which the shattering of a grail is considered truly acceptable is at the conclusion of a blood feud, when the opposing pack have already been wiped from the face of the Earth.

[Tami]

Pack Rites
A number of communal ignoblis ritae make use of the Blood of the Pack for the efficacy. For some, the blood of a Common Vaulderie may be used by a senior cleric in performing the rite for those not of his own pack. Examples include blessing rites, rites of memento mori, or the execution rites used when a member of the pack must be put to death. Many packs maintain their own canon of such rites, specific or adapted to the pack’s purposes.

Breaking the Chains
One of the most powerful aspects of the Vaulderie is its ability to dissolve Blood Bonds, but this should be a gradual process, and not all degrees of Vaulderie should have this effect at all.

To begin the process of dissolving the Bond, the Thrall must be a willing participant in a Creation or Consecration Vaulderie. They must also be almost empty of blood at the time, having only a single blood point in their system. There is no minimum amount of the Blood of the Pack which they must drink (Guide to the Sabbat states that they must take at least six points, but unless the vampire’s packmates are all very low generation, this would require the pack’s grail to be a dustbin), and they need not know that the rite will weaken the chains that bind them, but – as with all participants in any Vaulderie – they must take part of their own will. You can not begin to free a Thrall by bleeding them into the grail then forcing them to drink.

Once the process is begun, the player should make a Willpower roll for each Grail Vaulderie in which the Thrall participates; success represents a weakening of the Bond. The precise degree to which the Bond weakens depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to the Thrall’s Nature and Willpower, a desire to break the Bond, an understanding that the Vaulderie is helping them to do so, the strength of the Regnant’s blood, the age of the bond, the Regnant’s treatment of the Thrall, whether the Thrall has any chances to have contact with the Regnant, and the pack’s treatment of the Thrall.

A possible system starts from the basis that a Bond weakens gradually over time if the Thrall is away from his Sire. If you accept the main rule book’s 12-Willpower months to drop a level of Bond, then assume that the each successful roll takes a month off the time. Another version – allowing for longer Bonds – might make the time 12-Willpower+number of drinks after the first three, with a further modification for the Generation of the Regnant, in which case you might reduce the number of months by one for each success on the roll, to a maximum of the number of packmates in the Vaulderie.

A lot depends on your specific interpretation of the Blood Bond, but it should always be that the Vaulderie helps to break the Bonds, it can not complete the task alone. If the Thrall, at some deep and basic level, really, truly, wants to remain Bound to his Sire (for reasons beyond the scope of the Bond itself), then nothing will break the Bond, ever. Bear in mind however, that a submissive personality surrounded by the passions of Sabbat pack is as likely to transfer its devotion to the pack as to remain obsessed by a distant master. To maintain the Bond against all else, the loyalty and devotion must be total, even without the blood, such that the Bond is a mere formality. This level of devotion is as rare among vampires as it is among humans.

Blessing the Unworthy
The Blood of the Pack may – on occasion – be given to one who does not contribute to the grail. The two most common instances are a fledgling yet to prove himself and undergo the Creation Rites, and a ghoul. In either case, the unworthy one is required to sit in the circle with the pack. As the grail is passed, they contribute nothing to it, but when it comes back to them, they drink like the rest. This creates vinicula towards the full members of the pack, but none in return. It also supplies the ghoul with some of the blood they need to retain their ‘blessed’ state. If this continues for long enough – unlikely in the case of the fledge, more so for the ghoul – then the individual will begin to feel the effects of the Blood of the Pack in their system.

Once a childe is fledged, they join the pack properly, and at their Creation Vaulderie their blood joins the pack’s for the first time. They retain their Vaulderie ratings towards the pack, but now they are reciprocated. The advantage of the system is that the fledge’s loyalty to the pack is maintained until they prove themselves, without the pack having to go soft on them, or – God forbid – having to Blood Bond them.

With the ghoul, the advantages are the same. The ghoul is loyal to the pack, without being the particular servant of one of the members. For nomads especially, who frequently share a haven, the idea of having a daytime servant or guardian who might turn on you if they think you humiliated their beloved master is obviously not pleasant. Beyond this however, the ghoul is never subjected to the wrenching slavery of the Blood Bond; a particular advantage should he ever prove himself sufficiently that the pack decide to take him as a vampire and make him a full member of the pack.

Childer of the Pack
A final instance in which the Blood of the Pack – or the mixed blood of a Common Vaulderie – can be given to one who did not contribute is in the creation of a half-caste childe. When the mixed blood is given to a mortal drained in the Vaulderie circle, if he rises as a vampire he will be a Pander, mingling traits from the blood of those who gave of themselves to create him.