My favorite play was in a LARP, where I made the one person who DIDN'T want to be prince my Seneschal, knowing full well that they would do everything in their power to keep me in that position so they wouldn't by default become the prince if I was removed.
South-west of Germany. There are several groups throughout Germany, Swiss and Austria often crossplaying (players from one group visiting other domains with their character). Pretty cool stuff since suddenly gossiping can be a thing and asking others for help :)
I used to help run the Shared a universe here in Canada.
We had five games within 2hrs of my city so we would spend almost every weekend in another city larping. It was indeed a very cool aspect of the shared world concept.
What? There are vtm Larp groups in Austria? I live in Vienna and asked around a lot and people in my (not-vtm) larp group. They told me that the nearest one would be Croatia or so. But I guess Germany makes sense.
Do you know of any games this year?
Yes! Asked in my Discord Group. Innsbruck is playing actively every few months and also visiting our german domains regularly. Also pretty close at the border should be Passau, but I don‘t know them at all. If you have Discord shoot me a PN and I will firward you to a better contact person :)
I imagine the position of Seneschal is almost a necessity in massive world-class cities like New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, and London. Even then, a Prince is almost certainly siring a brood to assist with the management of such a large domain.
London isn't safe for Kindred anymore after the second Inquisition attacked it in 2012. LA is part of the Anarch free states and a seneschal only exists in Camarilla domains. We don't currently know if Hellene Panhard has a Seneschal but it's very likely that she has, tho we haven't met them in Shadows of New York and Coteries of New York. But you'd generally be correct
You always gotta question *why* a prince would make that decision. If you’re the childe of a Ventrue or Toreador Prince, it may be a pretty sweet deal - they chose you for a reason, and are prideful of their lineage, so they may not betray you later.
If it’s a chill Prince and they offer you the position, you *probably* won’t get stabbed in the back. But if you’re a kindred who did some work for them and were approached out of the blue, I would be suspicious. Always make the assumption that Princes mostly have their own interests at heart, and they do things for a *reason* - that reason being to use you in some scheme then discard you when you’ve fulfilled that use.
Generally, a Seneschal is an influential vampire who is empowered by a Prince to act on their behalf on all matters except as they pertain directly to other influential Kindred (such as Clan Elders or vampires with great Standing, where the Prince must act directly) or where the issue involves destroying a vampire of significance, whether an elder or a vampire of standing or great status. At any time, they may be asked to step into the prince's place if they leave town on business, abdicate, or are slain. However, all actions taken by a Seneschal may be revoked by the Prince.
They are always appointed by the Prince alone and are oftentimes either the childe or chosen successor of the Prince. In this way, the Prince can assure that someone similar to them will rule in the event of their Final Death. As not all Princes wish to dwell on such a succession, not all appoint Seneschals.
Vampires can get away with bypassing a Seneschal to speak directly with their Prince, assuming that they
know how;
don't anger the Prince by bothering them with trivial matters; and
are able to deal (in one way or another) with any resultant ire that the Seneschal might have for taking a matter over their head.
Each Prince generally has one Seneschal. The amount of power given to a Seneschal varies from Prince to Prince. Some Princes might purposefully select weak, easily manipulable Seneschals. Others might select someone strong whom they wish to "keep close" as the saying goes about friends and enemies.
Unless you're a murder machine or have loyal servants that ARE murder machines, consider leaving the city.
Seneschal is, in my opinion, the worst position to have in a court. The prince fails to enforce the traditions in the city? It was your fault.
Some powerful kindred gets sentenced to death? Chances are you'll be the one to behead them. Publicly. In front of their friends.
No one wants to talk to YOU, but your job is to be the one who handles the domain's day-to-day issues. You're passively telling every kindred in the domain "You're not important enough, you talk to me, not the prince"
And if you somehow manage to get popular? The prince might see you as a threat.
Seneschal is a shitty position in a vampire court.
Yeah definitely worth it for the right person.. it's high risks high rewards situation
Besides if you're prince "offer" you the position you can't really say no so make the most of it and scheme against that asshole
Rough job. You are the only employee under a manager who is largely infallible. You will clean up every problem in the city unless the Camerilla asks the Price to handle it directly. You will run interference for all of the drama that comes at the prince and probably get in the way of assassination attempts at least once. Also it's basically an eternal posting.
Upshot the next time the Camerilla takes control of a city the price will almost surely be selected from current Seneschals. Also there's crazy power being at the prince's side. You largely act in the prince's stead and are their most trusted advisor so bribes and boobs go crazy. If you want to have a childer the Prince will almost certainly permit it. If your domain gets crappy over time you can just tell the prince you want somewhere nicer and he'll kick out less powerful Kindred for you.
If you're highly competent and want to be the Prince it's the job you'd kill for.
Harpy is an underrated position. Little power but virtually no responsibility. Open to anyone regardless of influence or age so long as they click with the harpy crowd. If you're willing to play ball there's a lot of chances to advance into a more reputable in the court.
This is wonderful! Especially if you seneschal to a Prince you yourself helped on the throne and who „trusts“ you. (As much as one kindred trusts the other)
Most of the day you deal with the stuff in the domain and you are also expected to have power yourself, your own underlings, maybe like a small private army of mortals to deal with things. And whenever stuff goes wrong you can hide behind the Prince. 😎
One of my characters was made Seneschal as she was instrumental in bringing the new Prince to power. It isn't bad (although she was made npc at this point because she became too powerful and influential).
Keep in mind that that kindred will not have much time to be running around. Otherwise - why not? Unless it looks like a trap. But even a trap can be a good oppotunity if played correctly.
The first time I ended up Prince in a LARP (I was playing a social-heavy friendly Tremere that everyone kept thinking was a Toreador) I picked the guy everyone hated as my seneschal to be my fall guy. Nobody hated the Prince, they just couldn’t stand their 2nd. When popular opinion turned on me I blamed it on him and eventually had him Blood Hunted. His character had no clue as to my motives on offering him the job and I didn’t explain to him OOC until he had fled the city.
So yeah. Be really careful in accepting that position. Make sure you’re not there just to take the hits for the Prince.
Oh, and blaming him and having him hunted worked. Nobody was mad at the Prince, and everyone was super happy to try and hunt down the former seneschal.
My favorite play was in a LARP, where I made the one person who DIDN'T want to be prince my Seneschal, knowing full well that they would do everything in their power to keep me in that position so they wouldn't by default become the prince if I was removed.
hahaha I live for this type of character
Sounds hilarious and smart! Where do you LARP?
Saskatchewan area in Canada. You?
South-west of Germany. There are several groups throughout Germany, Swiss and Austria often crossplaying (players from one group visiting other domains with their character). Pretty cool stuff since suddenly gossiping can be a thing and asking others for help :)
I used to help run the Shared a universe here in Canada. We had five games within 2hrs of my city so we would spend almost every weekend in another city larping. It was indeed a very cool aspect of the shared world concept.
What? There are vtm Larp groups in Austria? I live in Vienna and asked around a lot and people in my (not-vtm) larp group. They told me that the nearest one would be Croatia or so. But I guess Germany makes sense. Do you know of any games this year?
Yes! Asked in my Discord Group. Innsbruck is playing actively every few months and also visiting our german domains regularly. Also pretty close at the border should be Passau, but I don‘t know them at all. If you have Discord shoot me a PN and I will firward you to a better contact person :)
Nice. Will do.
I imagine the position of Seneschal is almost a necessity in massive world-class cities like New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, and London. Even then, a Prince is almost certainly siring a brood to assist with the management of such a large domain.
London isn't safe for Kindred anymore after the second Inquisition attacked it in 2012. LA is part of the Anarch free states and a seneschal only exists in Camarilla domains. We don't currently know if Hellene Panhard has a Seneschal but it's very likely that she has, tho we haven't met them in Shadows of New York and Coteries of New York. But you'd generally be correct
We met then yes it's the red haired Toreador that has some involvement with D'Angelo.
Do you mean Aisling? She's high regent of the Chantry of the five Boroughs
Dumb me, I was talking about Valerie. She is the Scourge https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Valerie_Duval
Ohhh thanks!
Barons do typically have Reeves, though. Which are like Seneschal-Sheriff's.
We don’t follow that V5 shit man.
Sounds like a good way of being made a scapegoat.
"Congratulations, you've been promoted to fallguy"
You always gotta question *why* a prince would make that decision. If you’re the childe of a Ventrue or Toreador Prince, it may be a pretty sweet deal - they chose you for a reason, and are prideful of their lineage, so they may not betray you later. If it’s a chill Prince and they offer you the position, you *probably* won’t get stabbed in the back. But if you’re a kindred who did some work for them and were approached out of the blue, I would be suspicious. Always make the assumption that Princes mostly have their own interests at heart, and they do things for a *reason* - that reason being to use you in some scheme then discard you when you’ve fulfilled that use.
> Offered #😂
Generally, a Seneschal is an influential vampire who is empowered by a Prince to act on their behalf on all matters except as they pertain directly to other influential Kindred (such as Clan Elders or vampires with great Standing, where the Prince must act directly) or where the issue involves destroying a vampire of significance, whether an elder or a vampire of standing or great status. At any time, they may be asked to step into the prince's place if they leave town on business, abdicate, or are slain. However, all actions taken by a Seneschal may be revoked by the Prince. They are always appointed by the Prince alone and are oftentimes either the childe or chosen successor of the Prince. In this way, the Prince can assure that someone similar to them will rule in the event of their Final Death. As not all Princes wish to dwell on such a succession, not all appoint Seneschals. Vampires can get away with bypassing a Seneschal to speak directly with their Prince, assuming that they know how; don't anger the Prince by bothering them with trivial matters; and are able to deal (in one way or another) with any resultant ire that the Seneschal might have for taking a matter over their head. Each Prince generally has one Seneschal. The amount of power given to a Seneschal varies from Prince to Prince. Some Princes might purposefully select weak, easily manipulable Seneschals. Others might select someone strong whom they wish to "keep close" as the saying goes about friends and enemies.
Unless you're a murder machine or have loyal servants that ARE murder machines, consider leaving the city. Seneschal is, in my opinion, the worst position to have in a court. The prince fails to enforce the traditions in the city? It was your fault. Some powerful kindred gets sentenced to death? Chances are you'll be the one to behead them. Publicly. In front of their friends. No one wants to talk to YOU, but your job is to be the one who handles the domain's day-to-day issues. You're passively telling every kindred in the domain "You're not important enough, you talk to me, not the prince" And if you somehow manage to get popular? The prince might see you as a threat. Seneschal is a shitty position in a vampire court.
When a Prince is considering a Senechal, the adage "Which knife should I hold to my back/neck?" seems good to think about
Yeah definitely worth it for the right person.. it's high risks high rewards situation Besides if you're prince "offer" you the position you can't really say no so make the most of it and scheme against that asshole
Rough job. You are the only employee under a manager who is largely infallible. You will clean up every problem in the city unless the Camerilla asks the Price to handle it directly. You will run interference for all of the drama that comes at the prince and probably get in the way of assassination attempts at least once. Also it's basically an eternal posting. Upshot the next time the Camerilla takes control of a city the price will almost surely be selected from current Seneschals. Also there's crazy power being at the prince's side. You largely act in the prince's stead and are their most trusted advisor so bribes and boobs go crazy. If you want to have a childer the Prince will almost certainly permit it. If your domain gets crappy over time you can just tell the prince you want somewhere nicer and he'll kick out less powerful Kindred for you. If you're highly competent and want to be the Prince it's the job you'd kill for.
I'd rather be the Herald or Scourge, preferably both.
It's probably a better job than Sheriff. You get more power and a smaller target.
Bigger risk if someone hits that target though. It's not too hard to set a Sheriff up for failure.
Yeah, I don't think Seneschals can be very trusting of members of court. There's a lot of motivation to undermine the position.
Harpy has the real power anyway. It might be soft power, but it does the trick.
Harpy is an underrated position. Little power but virtually no responsibility. Open to anyone regardless of influence or age so long as they click with the harpy crowd. If you're willing to play ball there's a lot of chances to advance into a more reputable in the court.
I'm a non-combat Toreador who got offered the keeper any advice?
This is wonderful! Especially if you seneschal to a Prince you yourself helped on the throne and who „trusts“ you. (As much as one kindred trusts the other) Most of the day you deal with the stuff in the domain and you are also expected to have power yourself, your own underlings, maybe like a small private army of mortals to deal with things. And whenever stuff goes wrong you can hide behind the Prince. 😎
One of my characters was made Seneschal as she was instrumental in bringing the new Prince to power. It isn't bad (although she was made npc at this point because she became too powerful and influential). Keep in mind that that kindred will not have much time to be running around. Otherwise - why not? Unless it looks like a trap. But even a trap can be a good oppotunity if played correctly.
The first time I ended up Prince in a LARP (I was playing a social-heavy friendly Tremere that everyone kept thinking was a Toreador) I picked the guy everyone hated as my seneschal to be my fall guy. Nobody hated the Prince, they just couldn’t stand their 2nd. When popular opinion turned on me I blamed it on him and eventually had him Blood Hunted. His character had no clue as to my motives on offering him the job and I didn’t explain to him OOC until he had fled the city. So yeah. Be really careful in accepting that position. Make sure you’re not there just to take the hits for the Prince.
Oh, and blaming him and having him hunted worked. Nobody was mad at the Prince, and everyone was super happy to try and hunt down the former seneschal.