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On the Requiem meme
Jan. 16th, 2006 12:10 amI got Daeva on the "What Requiem clan are you?" quiz. And, to some extent, I agree.
But, on the other, I know I was swaying the results in my favor. How could I not? The responses were so freaking obvious that a child would have known what clans were meant. I think the only question that didn't scream the clans they represented were the music ones (and, frankly, I want to know why Britney Spears is Daeva and Rammstein is Nosferatu...). The stereotypes were almost painful.
BEGINNING A RANT
It reminds me of one of the first scenes of Az and D'or talking to each other, right after the characters of Last Night were Embraced. It went something like this:
D'OR: [giving Az, in her slutty party clothes and somewhat strung-out junkie look, a once-over] So... you're a Daeva?
AZ: [confused] Um... sure? What does that mean?
D'OR: ...it's a vampire clan. Well, there's an easy way to tell. Have you demonstrated any supernatural prowess?
AZ: Well, when Charloette tried to stake me, it didn't work very well...
D'OR: [obviously surprised] Well, you're obviously a Gangrel then.
AZ: Oh, and I can order people to do as I say.
D'OR: ...you're a Ventrue?!?!
While in some way I suppose clan stereotypes are necessary, Pat's game has really given me an appreciation for 'the sire chooses the childe, not the clan.' A Daeva and a Gangrel may be just as likely to Embrace a stockbroker as a Ventrue is - it depends on the Daeva and the Gangrel.
Link was a Ventrue. He was also a serial killer and drug dealer. He was certainly a lord - a lord of death, a lord of the streets - but he was not your typical Ventrue. Neither is Az, and yet there is still some part of her personality that has manifested as a desire to dominate. She dominates her chosen field - medicine - and she dominates her lovers - fulfilling her vice (Lust). And yet she was chosen for clan Ventrue because she and a drug-addict friend decided to spend the last night of summer getting high, and Link was there.
Jimmy was a Gangrel. Perhaps a car dealer would seem a more natural choice for Gangrel than any other, but he wasn't a traveller. He wasn't a 'survivor'. He wasn't even a particularly stalwart guy. He was just a guy that loved cars, and he was Embraced by a guy that loved betting against car dealers. That's how Worm found him; that's why Worm chose him.
Cindy's skills had nothing to do with her becoming Mekhet. While she did have, perhaps, some skills suited to 'Mekhet ways', she was in no way a collector of lore, a spymaster, or an assassin. She wasn't angsty or gothy - she didn't have the fucking time. She was a single mom working as a security guard - because it was the closest job she could get to the one she wanted (police officer), while still being flexible enough that she could arrange babysitting with her mother. She became a Mekhet because Morgan started stalking her - because he was Chasing the Dragon's Tail. He was the reason her ex left after their son was born; he became obssessed with her, afterwards. He, in a kind of crazy way, loved her. It had nothing to do with her being 'suited to the Mekhet'; it had everything to do with her, and him.
Sam was just a random passerby that Sergei attacked the night of the Embrace. Sam is the antithesis of the Nosferatu; he is a charming, suave, witty and presentable politician. He is not a classical 'Nosferatu'. He's not a freak, a sadist, or thief; those who meet him would more likely assume that he is a (somewhat creepy) Ventrue. (In fact, I think some of the vampires of the city did assume just that, just as they assumed Az was a Daeva or Gangrel.)
And David? David is probably the most classical of the five. But even David was a little weird - a Christian rocker? Okay, maybe. But how did Vivian find him? Well, she spent a lot of time at the clubs he frequently played at. She was a fan long before she was a sire. However, David is a Daeva that tries desperately to live by his Virtue, not his Vice. But he's not society's elite, he's not cultured, he's not cliquish, he's not seductive (he yells at/is disgusted by Az's means of feeding, fer chrissakes) - in short, he's a Daeva that hates the 'Daeva' way of living.
In short, I hate clan and covenant stereotypes being played, and people that think a stereotype is a character. Tell me, where would you put a guy that was in middle management? A construction worker? An advertisment creator? A designer of computer games? A mother of three? A widower? Do you have pat answers? I don't, because those aren't characters. Maybe the mother of three has an ongoing affair with a local Ventrue. Maybe that computer game designer loves the band that a Gangrel heads.
I much prefer a game where the ST decides who the sires are, what clans they are, who they are. Then, the players create characters - mortal characters - and the ST says, "Well, this sire would be attracted to your concept. They'd be likely to meet at locations A, B, and C. So, your clan is X. Let's roleplay out your Embrace."
Maybe you don't get the clan you really really wanted, but it's a much more interesting story.
Of course, that's not easily possible in a LARP situation - maybe if you try and set up a world where current characters are sires of new characters (which some don't like, but as long as people aren't straightjacketed ASSHATS about being sires - or about characters being childer - it really shouldn't be as big of an issue as some make it out to be), or where certain character types are set up in nearby cities, so you can do the same with characters from those locations...
Yeah. Sires choose childer, and some choices will surprise you. Stereotypes are more unhelpful than they are helpful.
RANT OVER
But, on the other, I know I was swaying the results in my favor. How could I not? The responses were so freaking obvious that a child would have known what clans were meant. I think the only question that didn't scream the clans they represented were the music ones (and, frankly, I want to know why Britney Spears is Daeva and Rammstein is Nosferatu...). The stereotypes were almost painful.
BEGINNING A RANT
It reminds me of one of the first scenes of Az and D'or talking to each other, right after the characters of Last Night were Embraced. It went something like this:
D'OR: [giving Az, in her slutty party clothes and somewhat strung-out junkie look, a once-over] So... you're a Daeva?
AZ: [confused] Um... sure? What does that mean?
D'OR: ...it's a vampire clan. Well, there's an easy way to tell. Have you demonstrated any supernatural prowess?
AZ: Well, when Charloette tried to stake me, it didn't work very well...
D'OR: [obviously surprised] Well, you're obviously a Gangrel then.
AZ: Oh, and I can order people to do as I say.
D'OR: ...you're a Ventrue?!?!
While in some way I suppose clan stereotypes are necessary, Pat's game has really given me an appreciation for 'the sire chooses the childe, not the clan.' A Daeva and a Gangrel may be just as likely to Embrace a stockbroker as a Ventrue is - it depends on the Daeva and the Gangrel.
Link was a Ventrue. He was also a serial killer and drug dealer. He was certainly a lord - a lord of death, a lord of the streets - but he was not your typical Ventrue. Neither is Az, and yet there is still some part of her personality that has manifested as a desire to dominate. She dominates her chosen field - medicine - and she dominates her lovers - fulfilling her vice (Lust). And yet she was chosen for clan Ventrue because she and a drug-addict friend decided to spend the last night of summer getting high, and Link was there.
Jimmy was a Gangrel. Perhaps a car dealer would seem a more natural choice for Gangrel than any other, but he wasn't a traveller. He wasn't a 'survivor'. He wasn't even a particularly stalwart guy. He was just a guy that loved cars, and he was Embraced by a guy that loved betting against car dealers. That's how Worm found him; that's why Worm chose him.
Cindy's skills had nothing to do with her becoming Mekhet. While she did have, perhaps, some skills suited to 'Mekhet ways', she was in no way a collector of lore, a spymaster, or an assassin. She wasn't angsty or gothy - she didn't have the fucking time. She was a single mom working as a security guard - because it was the closest job she could get to the one she wanted (police officer), while still being flexible enough that she could arrange babysitting with her mother. She became a Mekhet because Morgan started stalking her - because he was Chasing the Dragon's Tail. He was the reason her ex left after their son was born; he became obssessed with her, afterwards. He, in a kind of crazy way, loved her. It had nothing to do with her being 'suited to the Mekhet'; it had everything to do with her, and him.
Sam was just a random passerby that Sergei attacked the night of the Embrace. Sam is the antithesis of the Nosferatu; he is a charming, suave, witty and presentable politician. He is not a classical 'Nosferatu'. He's not a freak, a sadist, or thief; those who meet him would more likely assume that he is a (somewhat creepy) Ventrue. (In fact, I think some of the vampires of the city did assume just that, just as they assumed Az was a Daeva or Gangrel.)
And David? David is probably the most classical of the five. But even David was a little weird - a Christian rocker? Okay, maybe. But how did Vivian find him? Well, she spent a lot of time at the clubs he frequently played at. She was a fan long before she was a sire. However, David is a Daeva that tries desperately to live by his Virtue, not his Vice. But he's not society's elite, he's not cultured, he's not cliquish, he's not seductive (he yells at/is disgusted by Az's means of feeding, fer chrissakes) - in short, he's a Daeva that hates the 'Daeva' way of living.
In short, I hate clan and covenant stereotypes being played, and people that think a stereotype is a character. Tell me, where would you put a guy that was in middle management? A construction worker? An advertisment creator? A designer of computer games? A mother of three? A widower? Do you have pat answers? I don't, because those aren't characters. Maybe the mother of three has an ongoing affair with a local Ventrue. Maybe that computer game designer loves the band that a Gangrel heads.
I much prefer a game where the ST decides who the sires are, what clans they are, who they are. Then, the players create characters - mortal characters - and the ST says, "Well, this sire would be attracted to your concept. They'd be likely to meet at locations A, B, and C. So, your clan is X. Let's roleplay out your Embrace."
Maybe you don't get the clan you really really wanted, but it's a much more interesting story.
Of course, that's not easily possible in a LARP situation - maybe if you try and set up a world where current characters are sires of new characters (which some don't like, but as long as people aren't straightjacketed ASSHATS about being sires - or about characters being childer - it really shouldn't be as big of an issue as some make it out to be), or where certain character types are set up in nearby cities, so you can do the same with characters from those locations...
Yeah. Sires choose childer, and some choices will surprise you. Stereotypes are more unhelpful than they are helpful.
RANT OVER
