The Twilight Accord
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.—Plato
O
nce upon a time, the city was at war. To preserve the city itself, a deal was struck between the different factions. A deal not made out of respect, but one of mutual preservation. Humans were catching on to what was happening in the shadows. The streets had too long been painted with blood and strewn with bodies - it was attracting Hunters and making life difficult for everyone.
T
he laws are simple enough, when paid mind to:
1.
Respect The Landlords.
When a group or a faction lays claim to an area, crimes committed on that land will be judged by leaders of that faction. Or, if it's a large enough crime, by the whole of the council. If a Kindred leaves a dead body on Urdaga territory, they will answer to the Urdaga for leaving it, or compensation for the cleaning up of the corpse, for example.
This is where the Territory system overlaps with the Accord. The easiest way to think of the grid and the politics is in layers. And these layers overlap and interlock and can create a lot of complexity, if complexity is desired. And it can create some interesting situations. The Praxes overlap with the claimed Districts (+map/sphere and +map/praxis). So if a North Praxis vampire makes a mess in North Side (wolf turf), they have to answer to the wolves and/or the person that Claims that Neighborhood square. Because it is in the North Praxis, the Prince might be convinced to negotiate for clemency. Where an Undercity vampire might wind up a little deeper, since North and UC Princes are not exactly on good terms, and Enrico might decide to try and dick move someone to get at Tillo.
I will *always* do my best to make sure people have wiggle room and options. There might always be consequences to consider and weigh, and I will do my best to help without 1) railroading someone and 2) tipping too much of my hand as an ST. Which can be a very fine line to walk.2.
Respect The Coins.
The currency used to buy and sell favors and objects, anything really, between the supernaturals and 'in the know' folk of the city are to be held as sacred. Be careful in dealings - trying to be clever and not pay on a deal made has landed more than a few in a dark hole in Chicago's underbelly.
These are loosely based on the John Wick movies. I wanted something more flexible than Boons and that could be traded between players. These and +resources are the greases that keep down the frictions. Coins have a hundred uses. They can be directly traded as Boons would be (I'll do that for 3 coins!) and hagggled with (Yeah, right, it's only worth 2!). You can buy favors from a Prince, or win over someone you've insulted (Oh, my bad, here's a Coin and let's start over, yeah?). Everyone has a price, the trick is finding it and having the means to pay it. Coins can be used to gain access to things npcs have (Tillo, for instance, has an extensive Occult library), or getting some npc's to clean a crime scene. Anyone 'in the know', even base mortals, can acquire coins. They can be used as tokens to signify that someone is associated with someone in the know - I've used a Coin on a necklace in scenes to mark a minion. The idea is that, perhaps, someone might take the coin and leave the minion alone - like pre-paying a favor to ensure the minion is safe.
Not paying debts agreed to, not producing goods or services or whatever is bought is a fairly grievous crime within the Accord. Because the Coins are *so* important to being used to keep the peace. Again, I won't stop anyone from doing the thing, but there are often serious consequences for breaking with the Accord.3.
Respect The Laws of Secrecy.
Cover up crimes that break human laws. Hide the bodies. Don't get caught. Reveal yourself, but do not endanger or reveal others. If someone outside the Urdaga and Kindred is brought into the knowledge of the night, then it falls to the one responsible for the revelation to teach them or delete them. Revealing others to a mortal without consent is considered a crime and can be punishable by the Council, if reparations cannot be determined within the Faction or the individuals. This is a blanket and does not supersede the customs of each faction. Kindred, for example, have their own laws regarding the Masquerade. As do wolves.
Cover up crimes that break human laws. Hide the bodies. Don't get caught. Reveal yourself, but do not endanger or reveal others. If someone outside the Urdaga and Kindred is brought into the knowledge of the night, then it falls to the one responsible for the revelation to teach them or delete them. Revealing others to a mortal without consent is considered a crime and can be punishable by the Council, if reparations cannot be determined within the Faction or the individuals. This is a blanket and does not supersede the customs of each faction. Kindred, for example, have their own laws regarding the Masquerade. As do wolves and Lost.
This one is probably the most self-explanatory of them all. Your secrets are *yours*. Other people's secrets are *theirs*. Telling a wolf that Becky is a dirty blood sucking Nosferatu will probably piss Becky off if she finds out she was outed to a wolf. She also, on the other, might not care. But the Accord cares, and each of the triumvirate (Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling) has a Law regarding people knowing. This is slightly lax here to a more 'anyone not a supernatural being' in terms of 'the herd must not know', but some characters might be more prickly than others and if a complaint that JoeBob told BigMack the wolf that Becky is a kindred, Becky might take it to the council, who is apt to leverage some kind of reparation (Coins, resources, something not character ruining) if it cannot be hashed out between PCs.S
imply put: Don't drag others into messes they don't make. Don't make messes in claimed lands. Coins are the grease that turns the wheels. Keep the games of intrigue under the radar and anything is possible.