In an interview I hosted several years ago with Richard Dansky as my guest, he said to me “Dark Ages is a world lit only be firelight.” It’s a phrase that’s always stuck with me. In Masquerade, vampires walk the cold city streets illuminated by flickering street lights, neon from shop windows, and the occasional gleam of a car’s headlights as it rushes by at speed, to get out of the dreadful neighbourhood.
In Dark Ages, the only light is fire.
What brave mortal will extinguish her candle? Who would be so foolish to travel between villages at night? What of pious kine, holding torches aloft in one hand, their faith brandished in the other? The darkness is the vampire’s friend, just as much as it’s the mortal’s enemy. The darkness hides a multitude of monsters the world over. This is something I want to explore with V20: Dark Ages Companion. The plans of vampires dwelling the shadows, from different regions, with different beliefs. The societies they form for their own protection, and philosophical furtherance they pursue to give meaning to lives without light. The domains they build, designed to keep out the intruding flame of life. The horror of combat, fought only by the embers of a bonfire, every sword slash a shadow, every clash of metal even more deafening for the lack of illumination. V20: Dark Ages Companion explores the literal and philosophical cut and thrust of a life lived in the dark. Inverted and subverted beliefs, rotting kingdoms, and dedication to blood – both its procurement and spillage. Our Dark Ages are a time even harsher than the real Middle Ages, not just for mortals, but also the vampires preying on them. It is difficult to find meaning when all you know is darkness.
Over the past month or two, both myself and the team on V20: Dark Ages Companion have been hard at work, producing a book for you that I’m hoping you’ll find rather enjoyable. I’ve not spoken much about what the V20: Dark Ages Companion is due to include, so in this blog post, I intend to provide some illumination. Setites and Lasombra are therefore urged to don shades, hoods, or wide-brimmed hats.
I wanted Companion to expand on V20: Dark Ages, and the Dark Ages lines of the previous two decades (and saying that makes me feel old.) I asked my gaming groups what they wanted to see in a Dark Ages book. I read forum posts and reviews of V20: Dark Ages. I also researched what readers loved about the historic Dark Ages material. I’m a massive fan of Dark Ages: Vampire myself (you may have seen some of my YouTube videos on the subject) so I even looked into the chronicles for which I’ve been Storyteller, to analyse what material was particularly well received by players. I thought about what a Companion should offer to both players and Storytellers.
V20: Dark Ages Companion explores the geography of the World of Darkness. It explores it in a way designed to evoke the mood of the places we visit. We examine domains of varying sizes, to see how chronicles may be different from one to another. If you wish to set your chronicle in intimate surroundings, where schemes are small and every Cainite knows her neighbour, the small Norwegian island of Bjarkarey or the provincial British town of Bath receive in-depth coverage, complete with plots, characters, and ways to make those domains – or domains like them – your own. The same options are present, should you desire somewhere untouched by established lore. The cosmopolitan domain of Mangalore on India’s west coast, as a popular route to China, may hold appeal. Alternatively, if you seek a chronicle set in a domain wracked with internal conflict, conflicting faith, and new takes on established Clans, Mogadishu receives a spotlight. For those seeking examination of epic domains, where multiple chronicles can be set without your ever having to see the same Cainite twice, and grand schemes take place that your vampires may wish to become embroiled in or desperately avoid, both Rome and Constantinople also receive chapters.
This book isn’t only a travelogue. Knowing how well-received the Clan apocrypha chapter was in V20: Dark Ages, and knowing players love options, we once again have apocrypha for every Clan, and at least one “bloodline.” These sections contain new Roads, new rules, new orders, new myths and history – new ways to play your favourite lines, tying into the lore presented in V20: Dark Ages, its predecessors, the upcoming V20: Dark Ages Tome of Secrets, and this book as well.
There’s even more. This book contains a bestiary of creatures of the night, specific to the time, and focused on areas we cover in our various domains. It also holds rules for simplified combat, for those who like their bloodshed quick and brutal. It also also holds an in-depth look at the weaponry and armour of the period, so you know when your Cainite is disemboweling that ghoul, he’s doing it with the right blade. It also also also has what currently ranks as my favourite chapter (though this changes nightly), on how to build a domain. Backgrounds for communal domain building, the maintenance of the manor, staff and servants a vampire may require, disasters and events that may afflict the vampire’s holdings – all are included. This chapter provides you a method of building a domain from scratch, so if your vampire wants to set out on his own and build a town between Paris and Rouen, he will be able to do so.
I want this book filled with at least one thing for every gaming group.
We are currently at final draft stage for this book. I will post below a selection of extracts from first drafts. If there’s anything in particular you wish to preview in the coming weeks, please state in the comments, whether it be in respect of a specific Clan’s apocrypha, a particular domain, or any of the other chapters noted.
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The Grand Bazaar (from the Domain of Constantinople, by Meghan Fitzgerald)
For all the wrack and ruin festering behind Constantinople’s walls, nothing has yet been able to snuff the spark of the Grand Bazaar, the commercial hub where Latin and Byzantine, East and West, mortal and Cainite, all commingle in a glorious urban cacophony. Thanks to centuries of vampiric influence, the Bazaar never sleeps. During daylight hours, merchants from every far-flung corner of the world unpack their wares and sell, sell, sell. Wagons and carts, tents and shacks, mats and carpets, makeshift booths, stands, storefronts, squares, and even the merchants themselves bedecked from head to toe all offer a whirlwind of goods local and foreign.
When the sun sets, the market grows quieter but no less teeming with merchandise. While the Latin Quarter holds the record for common illicit business, oddities and horrors found nowhere else in the known world crawl out from the cracks of these night-brokers’ shops. They have been serving the perverse needs of the Cainite set since Byzar first planted his flag, and each year they get more creative.
That’s the part all Cainites know. What most don’t know is that the Grand Bazaar also hides a grim order of vampire hunting maniacs with dead vitae in their veins and murder in their hearts. These fanatic kine were once starry-eyed ghouls in the company of undead gods, serving the Trinity families loyally for decades before it all came crashing down around them. Left behind when their regnants burned or fled in 1204, they pined and wept for years before the loss of their dark masters drove them to a hateful, bitter rage at their own survival. Taking their own (or each other’s) lives seemed like a waste of the sacred trust bestowed upon them by their lords, so instead they have vowed to cleanse Constantinople of the base filth calling themselves Cainites in these debased nights. The order has no name, communicating only through subtle signs and signals scattered throughout the Bazaar. They work in tandem and in numbers to lure vampires away from the crowd, falling upon them with stakes and fire once they’re alone. The only Cainites safe from their predations are the Nosferatu, known to them as true allies of the vanished Dream.
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Zoroastrian Rituals (from Assamite Apocrypha, by Steffie de Vaan)
The Zoroastrians have their own Dur-an-Ki rituals. While any Assamite can learn these, their reliance on Zoroastrian beliefs and symbolism often puts them out of reach for other vampires. Many of these rituals call for a sacrifice to serve as a conduit between the damned vampire and Ahura Mazda. This is an unfortunate necessity and all sacrifices must be done cleanly, without pain or fear from the sacrifice, lest the ritual offends Ahura Mazda and fails.
The caster may cast all these rituals on herself, or on another beneficiary.
Guardian’s Gaze (•••)
The vampire finds a “four eyed” dog (i.e one with spots above his eyes) and spends an hour or longer bonding with it. She then kills the creature and places its head to oversee her resting place. The dog’s spirit guards her as she sleeps, and it wakes her if she is in danger. The vampire remains awake until the immediate threat is dealt with, though she may still not have any dice pool greater than her Road rating.
Judgment of Ahura Mazda (•••)
The vampire calls on Ahura Mazda to judge her victim and give him a glimpse of the hell that awaits. Her victim relives his three greatest sins, and his player re-rolls any Degeneration the act would cause. These sins are judged on the victim’s Road rather than the caster’s. Creatures with a Road rating (or equivalent) of 10 are immune to this ritual.
I’d love to see anything you have on the Tremere Apocrypha, the Gargoyles, or any idd Setite lore.
I think one of those could be arranged…
This sounds really promising. Especially if it is done right. And it sounds like it will be. I hope it will be more than the superficial books like the guides to high and low clans, but instead have actual useable material. Something immersive that transports you to the setting and has actual character and places as ideas, as opposed to just describing how you have Ventrue and Tzimisce fighting in Lithuania, for example. Transport us there with vivid descriptions of places and people. Actual story hooks and characters. More in the style of Requiem and Forsaken. That would be truly awesome.
I’m a big fan of the Player’s Guides to the High Clans and Low Clans, but I understand your desire.
I didn’t want to present an atlas of superficial domain descriptions. While those can be fun to read, in my experience they offer less utility than a book with in-depth explorations of why this domain offers something different to another, hundreds of miles away.
We want to explore what a town such as Bath – a place of faith, both Christian and Mithraic, due to its rich Roman history – has to offer a chronicle. What’s so interesting about its political setup? What opportunities can a coterie seize there?
We also want to examine how a Clan may act in one part of the world, when compared to another. Stereotypes aside, what are the commonalities and differences between Ventrue Clan behaviour in Bath when compared to Constantinople?
Sounds very interesting. And I didn’t mean to say that I wasn’t a fan of the Dark Ages books. I am! I have ’em all. And I can’t put my finger on it (or describe it properly), but some books just have that magic that gives you immediately usable ideas and you can almost taste the setting, while others offer a bland theorizing/describing ideas instead of presenting actual ideas in the flesh. Unfortunately some of the Dark Ages line had that problem. But with Onyx Path’s second editions of Requiem and Forsaken you have the opposite. And I truly hope you give us more of the flesh and blood. Instead of just describing how a Ventrue in Bath is different from one in Constantinople, show us with characters and stories and plots and twists. That would be outstanding.
As I am sure you will 🙂
I can promise characters with stories and plots and twists, not to worry!
Apropos to nothing, I remember years ago hearing about a fringe belief someone was trying to spread: the frankly racist notion that every historical event of import happened on the British Isles.
Part of his “evidence” was that the names Bath and Athens sounded similar, indicating Bath “must” have been the historical Athens, and the one in Greece was simply named after it.
That’s an interesting, yet bizarre and utterly truthless theory!
Love the Constantinople hooks! Awesome idea about the ghouls that were left behind after the three families were wither destroyed or fled. I’m excited to see the final product.
Meghan will be pleased!
I’d like some more grounding for some of those Assamite rituals, since part of the reason Zoroaster instituted religious reform in the first place was his opposition to animal sacrifice. While it is true, vampiric magic is often dark, can you really call it “Zoroastrian” at that point?
I’ll summon Steffie to chime in. Good question!
Here’s the idea behind it:
Humans have perfect free choice between good and evil (though of course Zoroaster *strongly* recommends they choose good ;)). Vampires don’t have that freedom – between the Beast, Hunger, eternal darkness, etc the Zoroastrian Assamites believe they are more beholden to evil than good. They //can’t// call on Ahura Mazda on their own, and they need the sacrifice to serve as a conduit of sorts. They don’t like it, but it’s part of their damnation.
I’ve made a note to be more explicit about this, so it doesn’t get lost.
Ah, I get it. 🙂 It would be an interesting religious conundrum, possibly with links to Catharism later — are vampires forced to be servants of Ahriman? Do they lack free will?
Well that is the conundrum Cainite Zoroastrians struggle with. And yes, Angra Mainyu / Ahriman does make an appearance there.
I tried to lean heavily on the idea that Zoroastrianism is about //choosing// good. Not defaulting to it, not coming naturally to it, but choosing. And, ya know, that’s hard when you’re literally dammed.
Looks great! The chapter on Domain building has me very intrigued. And as someone with a big interest in the Byzantines I’m definitely excited to see more about the Domain of Constantinople
Constantinople by Night was one of the most popular “by Night” sourcebooks, spawning much of the plot contained within the Dark Ages Clan novels. We really wanted to revisit that city, as the hub of faith and conflict of the time. I’m confident we’ve done the previous material justice, while expanding on it to make Storytellers want to revisit the site of Michael’s Dream.
Ah yes, I loved Constantinople by Night. Such splendor!
I too am really intrigued about the Domain Chapter.
And what I would love next (more than anything really) would be a Damnation City (the Requiem one) style book in the Dark Ages line. That would just be beyond awesome. My group has been talking about that ever since Damnation City came out. That would really make the Dark Ages come alive.
But that is for another time, I know.
Can’t wait to see the Companion!
Damnation City is such a fantastic book. To write something like that for Dark Ages would be a dream project. I’ll have to hassle Rich…
Please do 🙂
I am incredibly excited about this text especially now that I’ve read this post. I love the setting and flavor from VDA20 and honestly most of the Dark Ages line. This sounds like it’s going to focus on the aspects of VDA20 that I loved the most, and I am very VERY happy whenever I hear about content being developed outside of the standard European areas which this seems to touch on.
I do have a question as you specifically invoke India in this post. The current story for the Ravnos has them originating in India, but then becoming a traveling clan. I have always assumed that at least some of the clan stayed behind and could very easily have a somewhat different culture than the portion of the clan that was driven to wander. Are you planning on addressing that dynamic at all, or perhaps supply some hooks for what caused the wandering to begin in the sections of this text that will focus on India? Also, any chance we might see some content on the Dark Ages incarnation of the Indiana Kuei Jin Courts? I wouldn’t expect crunch obviously, but some setting material on their relationship with Indian Kindred would be really awesome.
Glad to hear you’re keen!
The Ravnos will receive coverage in both their Apocrypha and the Mangalore domain, along with the fellow dominant “Clans” in the region. I will tease who those vampires might be at this point, though V20: Dark Ages can point you in the direction of at least a couple.
Neall Raemonn Price is handling the chapter, and I can attest to it covering lines of which he’s very fond.
Excellent. I have been a fan of the Ravnos since the very early days, and am thrilled at anything that gives them a little more focus, and anything that gives India more attention in the World of Darkness. It is a fabulous setting in all time periods.
And one that’s received minimal coverage until now!
This sounds like the perfect add-on to V20 DA. I can’t wait. I’m particularly interested in that expanded gear chapter, being a follower of HEMA. I have full intent to shake my finger disapprovingly if I see Renaissance-style full plate armor in the mid-1200s. :3
Malcolm is authoring that section, and I can attest to the historicity of arms and armour he’s writing up.
I can’t tell you how happy I am that you and Meghan are updating Constantinople. This was my favorite city in the original Dark Ages line. I’ve long wondered what became of it in the World of Darkness since the events of the Bitter Crusade. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Meghan’s been reviewing all the older source material to make sure we’re as canonically true as we can be, while providing lots of new things for players and Storytellers wanting a fresh take on Constantinople. Judging from the comments here, it’s a popular part of the world.
I am so glad to see that Constantinople will be featured prominently in this book!
Me too! It’s one of my top three “by Night” books.
This looks fabulous! Just out of curiosity (and a thousand pardons if I missed it somewhere along the line), can you please give us approximate page-counts for the V20:tDA Companion and the V20:tDA Secret Lore of the Secret Lores books?
From your breakdown of the Companion, it sounds reasonably (and GORGEOUSLY) substantial… Enough so that I feel bad that I hadn’t seen it coming on the horizon, so to speak. Well, it IS Dark Ages, lit by fires, containing knavish Setites and uncouth Lasombra, but corpus bones! I ought to have apprehended some omen of its coming afore now!
(Can you tell I’m excited? I’m EXCITED!) 🙂
I couldn’t tell you for a certainty what Companion’s page count will look like, as that depends on the art as much as the words. Based on other books I’ve written for, I imagine it’d be somewhere close to the size of Sothis Ascends.
I suspect Tome of Secrets will be slightly shorter, but I’m just going on the word count I know about at this point. It’s always possible that may change.
I am very glad you and several others are so enthusiastic for this book!
Thank you for the precise estimated specific, uh… thing? Nah, I realised after I posted that I was asking an unfair question, but your answer more-than-suffices.
MORE than that, though, your ability to convey the passion for these projects is outstanding. I’m sure I’ll find plenty to dislike in these books ‘coz I’m a mad curmudgeon, but I doubt I’ll find fault in anyone who MADE these books!
I appreciate your saying so. A few people have told me they like how passionate or enthusiastic I sound for these roleplaying games, and honestly, I sound that way because I *am* that passionate and enthusiastic. These games are near and dear to me.
This sounds amazing. Can’t wait to see the Malkavian Seers take on things.
They will get an Apocrypha chapter too, not to worry!
Yay!
There is a chance to see some of these things in the Apocrypha of these books?
– Lasombra – Amici Noctis (Blood and Courts), Angellis Ater (revised, as pre-anarchist faction, not as line) and the Abyss Path.
– Ravnos – Way of the Eastern Paradox, Jatis (alexandrites, Bashirites, Sybarites and Phaedymites) Varieties Indian and Phuri Dae as lineage.
– Ventrue – Orders and Factions, Cult of Mithras, Path of Honorable Accord.
– Malkavians – Coronatti, Bloodline Moiroi, Self-Focus Way (early version), A text on the sources of crimson generate madness network and super-sanity, explanation of what is Super-Health, and how does the Network madness (on the same page).
– Gangrel – Gangrel Greek (Gangrel Urbano), Factions (city, Semi-Nomadic and territorialist) and Path of Immolation.
– Brujah – Path of entelechy, Meetings and Some text revealing some secret link of True Brujah with surprisingly Brujah and the Khanate of Erasmus (as a pre-anarchist faction).
– Tzimisce – Kuldons (and another Kraina), Sabbat (as pre-anarchist faction with Vinculli), Tzimisce outside the Voivoidado.
– Toreador – Cortes, Flamingo Road (revised), the Daughters of Cacophony (at that time as a fae curse, almost like a disease of the clan).
– Followers of Set – Text on Sep Hiperboleo (and the many faces that the clan attributes, such as Shiva, Typhon, Susekt, Damballah, Biblical Serpent and Jormungandr); Cults (as Sekhmet Sisters, The Court of Fire, Typhon of Children and Glycon Warriors); And Wizards (besides Sorcery Setite).
– Nosferatu – Main Litters (factions, talves the name needs to be changed to match their Prior nickname), a text on Nictuku as secret position between Nosferatu, The Way of Orion (revised).
– Assamite – Sorcery Zoroastrian, Assamites out of the Middle East, and Silsilas A text on the Maneuver against Jamal Old Old Mountain with a secret agreement with the Tremere.
– Tremere – Magus Way, Bloodline Tremere Treavélico, Way of Service Houses (factions and espionage, Goratrix, Meerlinda, Etrius, Bonisagus, etc.), Massava War (and parasitism in the Order of Hermes), Piramide.
– Capadocius – Culture (Customs, Traditions, Dogmas and Protocols), Death Cults (Factions of Caias, Bizar, Mahatma, Lazarus and Constancia), Universities (intellectual factions / policies, mystery cults), Illuminati, Cults of Shadows (for more disassociated capadocius death) and Dead Hug (possible Samedi origin).
– Salubri – Via Dolorosa, Thieves.
– Baali – Re-embrace.
Well, I won’t deny that’s quite the list. I’ll answer ambiguously so the book still retains some surprises. Note though, that every Clan will receive Apocrypha. It may just be that the Apocrypha covers an area for which you’ve not asked.
Lasombra – See Tome of Secrets.
– Ravnos – Yes.
– Ventrue – Yes.
– Malkavians – Hmm…
– Gangrel – Yes.
– Brujah – See Lore of the Clans.
– Tzimisce – Yes.
– Toreador – Only if word count permits.
– Followers of Set – See Tome of Secrets.
– Nosferatu – New new new.
– Assamite – Yes.
– Tremere – Look to Hermes.
– Capadocius – Yes.
– Salubri – Bwahaha.
– Baali – See Tome of Secrets.
I would like to congratulate you for the great work and I will certainly buy the two books, but would like to know some things about them. But I promise you are the last questions and will not be on the part of the Apocrypha.
In V20 Dark AgesTome of Secrets, we will have 13 cards of a one or two page letter written by the Dark Ages NPC to your character? Even without 13 supporters in this category.
We will in any of the books about Combat in Mass, Travel and Navigation?
V20 in the Dark Ages Companion will?
– Information on Sects (Furiores, Prometheans, Order of Ashes Bitter, Magnus nigrum, Heresy Cainite and Inconnu). And on the road of Cain. And some apocryphal Book of Nod.
– More Bloodlines Africa and Asia.
– Information on the specific Curses of each discipline (as in the Dark Ages Vampire) and perturbations and banes associated with them (as in the Players Guide to Low / High Clans).
– The information Monarchies (at least the list of them to the Known World – Europe, North Africa and Asia Mainland).
I would like to congratulate you for the great work and I will certainly buy the two books, but would like to know some things about them. But I promise you are the last questions and will not be on the part of the Apocrypha.
In V20 Dark AgesTome of Secrets, we will have 13 cards of a one or two page letter written by the Dark Ages NPC to your character? Even without 13 supporters in this category.
We will in any of the books about Combat in Mass, Travel and Navigation?
V20 in the Dark Ages Companion will?
– Information on Sects (Furiores, Prometheans, Order of Ashes Bitter, Magnus nigrum, Heresy Cainite and Inconnu). And on the road of Cain. And some apocryphal Book of Nod.
– More Bloodlines Africa and Asia.
– Information on the specific Curses of each discipline (as in the Dark Ages Vampire) and perturbations and banes associated with them (as in the Players Guide to Low / High Clans).
– The information Monarchies (at least the list of them to the Known World – Europe, North Africa and Asia Mainland).
Wow, that’s a lot of cool stuff. Well, one thing I’ve always been interested in was what the Followers of Set did to the Toreador of Constantinople that caused the degeneration of the clan.
I may have missed something somewhere but are we going to get some more about that.
You’ll be able to work that out when you see the Setite Sorcery Path called “The Revelations of Eden” practiced by Constantinople’s Children of Judas, in Tome of Secrets.
Cool. Man there’s a lot to look forward to. Wonder how long I’m going to have to wait.
Well Tome of Secrets is currently in editing and art direction. Companion is still being written, so you’ll be awaiting that one a little longer.
Fret not though. I’ll continue to post teasers, here and there.
I’m looking forward to it.
Running away from it. The V20 Dark Ages Anthology forecast have to leave? And you will have 4 Chapters that could not be raised in the financing?
I’m sorry – you may need to rephrase those questions. I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking.
I apologize that because it probably falls outside the scope of what you are developing. But since we are talking about the Dark Ages line and I think that the books are in the oven are the V20 Dark Ages Tome of Secrets, V20 DarK Ages Companion and V20 Dark Ages Anthology. I heard rumors that the Ventrue chapters by Myranda Sarro, Brujah by Renee Ritchie, Setites by Anna Kreider, and Toreador by Anna Loy would leave even having not reached the goal on crowdfunding. And I wanted to see if the rumors are true.
Ah, I understand! I honestly don’t know the writer list for the Anthology.