The World:
Pretty standard cyberpunk/fantasy kitchen sink. Think of Shadowrun, but less fantastical sh*t and more grounded. Magic has long been supplanted by technology and modern mages live a life of either concealing their powers, pledging their service to national governments, or joining one of the many volatile shaper cults.
The last of three artificial moons hovers ominously over the world, with the first two having been destroyed in two seperate near-apocalyptic events. Nobody knows who made them, how or why. The shuttle missions to the moon have been kept secret from the general populace.
The City:
MoonFall is an island city-state formed from the remains of the second moon when it crashed into the ocean. A number of chad viking pirates used it as a strategic location to raid the shorelines of neighboring countries like Bren and Thule. Eventually, they legitimized due to MoonFall’s value as a trading hub.
In the modern day, MoonFall is one of the largest, wealthiest and most dangerous cities in the world. The last is due to a corrupt Constabulary, a decentralized city government controlled by a collection of alliances known simply as The Board, and the immense power of the leading crime syndicates. Also importantly, MoonFall is one of the few places with hyper-lax laws regarding magic.
The vampire lineages:
Vampires are just one facet of the world, but the biggest part of this game. For now, I am only thinking of five-six lineages, unless someone throws me like $10k and then I'll have another few I’m thinking of.
Lineages are not VtM clans, the differences here are much more drastic. You can consider each lineage a different species of vampire. All lineages have a different way to spread vampirism and a different portfolio of powers/weaknesses. Most of the lineages are still male-dominated, although due to mutual agreements, female vampires now outnumber their male counterparts (I really needed a reason for it not to be a sausage fest, and have plenty of booba around).
Like mortal crime syndicates in MoonFall, the vampire lineages can trace their origins in the city back to the mass migration following the Cataclysm of 721 AFM, which resulted in the destruction of Greater Gushan and most of old Dyavol.
The Chthonians
A transhumanist cult to a cosmic horror that sleeps somewhere in the lovecraftian magic abyss underneath the city. They are faith-based, can f*ck your mind on command, and currently the strongest of MoonFall’s lineages.
They are considered the native sons and daughters of the island. The Chthonians carve out their dominion through the use of their proxy: the large and efficient Iron Cartel.
The Dragonblooded
Totally not based on the Triad at all, the Dragonblooded are vampires who value the study of magic over all things. Famed for their Wudajin fighting style, the true power of the Dragonblooded come from the more esoteric applications of their magic, as well as the sway they hold over the Shaper Cults.
They are refugees from Lost Gushan, and their syndicate proxy are the Dead Dragons.
Exiles of Dyavol
Also totally not based on the Russian mob. The Exiles of Dyavol are known to be proud and honorable, but also unpredictable. They place a high priority on physical fitness, martial ability and a strange species of chivalry. The Exiles prefer work that includes lots of chances for violence, as long as it’s against able combatants.
Old Dyavol was crippled by the same cataclysm that destroyed most of Gushan. As a result, the vampires of Dyavol voluntarily went into exile in hopes of a better feeding ground. Their proxies are the Dya Skapetr.
Sunseeker’s Court
The vampires of Sunseeker’s court can trace their lineage back to the mythical heroine Naika Sunseeker. When Sunseeker delivered the killing blow on the serpent goddess Telakhment, the deity’s blood spilled forth and cursed the heroine.
Before she vanished, Sunseeker founded a sacred order with her own blood to protect her homeland from evil. Unfortunately, the knightly order of Sunseeker’s Court has fallen far from grace and is now little more than petty criminals with delusions of grandeur.
They are fleeing the collapse of the loyalist, aristocratic government of Zimalaya due to civil war. Their proxy is the Kabila.
The Drukah
All vampires eventually trace themselves back to the Drukah due to one simple reason. What causes vampirism is a curse, and not to do with the blood itself. This is a common misconception as vampires... drink blood.
The Drukah were the ones who first discovered the curse and how to pass it on, mostly as an accident when looking into ways of gaining immortality.
They consider themselves the most pure of all vampires, but due to infighting and the results of the last war between the vampire lineages, the Drukah are all but extinct. They are not considered a major force in MoonFall’s underworld.
Familiars
The great vampire lineages are limited by The Final Accords to how many active vampires they may have at any one time. Although loopholes to the Accords exist, the lineages still rely on human familiars for their organizations to function.
Familiars are humans bound in service to their vampire masters, a relationship that can only usually be severed upon death, but not always.
The vampire factions use familiars to run their criminal organizations. Any task seen as beneath the notice of a vampire is delegated to their familiars, who have a hierarchy of their own based on seniority, skill and respect.
Technically, any human employed by a vampire syndicate is seen as a familiar, even low-level street thugs. On a more practical level however, familiars are the ones who have knowledge of the Uzakh Drucah, and serve their vampire masters directly.
Vampires select their familiars carefully, as humans not only serve as the rank and file of the great lineages, but it is also from this pool that new vampires, or the Respected Ones, are chosen.
All familiars are exceptional, although each vampire faction has different priorities and requirements when inducting new familiars.
The player will start off as a newly-initiated familiar to any vampire faction they wish. In order to rise in the dark hierarchy, they must curry favor with their new masters, accomplish great deeds, and otherwise prove themselves in the Uzakh Drucah.
The ultimate prize of the player’s undying service is to be reborn as a vampire. Immortal, powerful, and the ultimate predator masquerading as a human.
The War of the Accords
The various vampire lineages are only bound by one fact: that they survive as predators of men. Beyond that, the lineages are fundamentally different and hold great animosity towards each other.
Since their earliest encounters, the vampire lineages have waged a war of supremacy. This eternal conflict is not only for greater power and the security of their lineage, but also on philosophical and even religious principles.
The War of the Accords marked the final, and bloodiest, war between the major lineages. Suffering heavy casualties and the devastation of their strongholds, the surviving lineages agreed to an iron-clad pact, brokered by the Traveler’s Guild, now known as the Traveler’s Mandate.
The Final Accords, as it was known, set down the following rules:
- None of the noble lineages may make open war upon another.
- None of the lineages may exceed any other in men, of issue, by more than a third.
- Any issue of lineage who kills another of their kind, by their hand or another’s, will also perish.
- No issue of lineage may expose the existence of the Uzakh Drucah or the Great Partition.
Sworn before the guild’s Oathstone by the surviving elders of each lineage, The Final Accords is seen as unbreakable, and is now enforced by the might of the Traveler’s Mandate and its Department of Special Affairs.
The Traveler’s Mandate
A powerful covert international organization that protects mankind from dangerous anomalous creatures and events. As the arbitrator and enforcer of The Final Accords, the Traveler’s Mandate finds itself in a custodial role over the various vampire lineages. Using memetic and other advanced technology, the Mandate preserves the Partition (a difficult task in the Information Age) and acts as peacemaker between the lineages.
Despite this arduous and oftentimes thankless task, the Mandate does enjoy certain benefits from the arrangement, such as filling their coffers with near-untraceable funds. But vampires do not enjoy being leashed.
Thankfully for the Mandate, it has experience dealing with much greater threats than just mere vampires.
