A Mystery Awaits

Now I just need to figure out what it is. Fandom thoughts, shitposting, and cute animals, maybe? She/Her, Aro-Ace

[mysteryteacup]

Hi, I'm Teacup!

Here's the post where I keep my massive list of fanfic ideas and thoughts for:

Humans Are Space Orcs

SVSSS

Dimension 20: Cloudward, Ho!

Here's my AO3 if you want to read any of the fics I've written because of all those ideas.

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

graffiti discourse is so stupid why the hell would I give a shit if people spraypaint their names or do some cool paintings under a bridge

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

sorry didn't realize the bridge has to be plain beige concrete. that was a load bearing plain beige concrete if anyone tags it the whole bridge collapses

[that-gay-jedi]

And you know what else?

If a building is going to be architorture, graffiti are a natural consequence. Most urban design at this point is such a combination of bland and shoddy that brutalism would look like art deco by comparison or is designed with cheeky fucking corporate sensibilities to appeal to the kinds of people who can rent a $3000 studio apartment. Nobody wants to see that, covering it in paint and tags is a relief!

And like. When your city subsidizes a football stadium with money it was supposed to spend on your healthcare or something? That's your fucking stadium. The government didn't buy it, you bought it for them with years off your life (even if you don't pay taxes, how the taxes are spent still affects you). You can and should decorate it because you own it.

[tiktoksthataregood-ish]

[aphel1on]

top tier character when "what is wrong with them" requires an answer that begins with "How much time do you have"

[fruitless-vain]

Gay Puppy Gay Puppy Gay Puppy

[asha-mage]

My toxic trait is that I am far more interested in the socio-economic and geopolitical implications of ABO settings than the smut.

For example: I can't read any ABO AUs set in England or France because while I can suspend my disbelief far enough for a gender trinary set up, I can't suspend it enough to believe those two countries would still be distinct entities in a alternate history where Richard the Lionheart could have impregnated Philip II.

If there was a viable dynastic future with Richard, Philip would have climbed him like an oak and dragged him to the altar if he had to. It's a match that makes perfect sense from both their points of view: Philip gets Aquitaine back under French rule, the best general in Europe on his council, and a powerful check on the Angevins... then unexpectedly (after Henry the Young bites it) the entire Kingdom of England for his Capetian dynasty. Richard meanwhile gets to stick it to his father, secure Aquitaine's prosperity, and gets the leverage to start pushing for his mother's release. Then when Henry kicks the bucket Richard doesn't actually have to be King of England in anything but name: Philip can run the countries and unify the Crowns and what not while Richard runs off to go Crusading.

Plus they also like, loved each other and stuff and being able to get to be together long term instead of being torn apart by politics would have been cool. But I'm mainly obsessed with the historical and dynastic implications.

All this to say any ABO au set in England or France that doesn't have them united as a singular Anglo-Frank empire is doing it wrong.

[artechouse]

The concept of A/B/O also introduces the question of what succession law would look like under a gender trinary. England historically used cognatic succession, where female scions and their descendants could inherit titles if there were no surviving males from the previous dynast’s line, whereas France used agnatic succession, where succession could only pass through male lines.

In this AU, it’s unlikely that an Anglo-Frank union could last due to differences in succession laws between the two realms. What would happen if an Alpha died without an heir? Would Betas be treated similarly to Alphas for succession purposes? Could succession pass through Beta or even Omega lines? Succession laws were quite difficult to change, with modifications to royal succession often resulting in civil and/or international wars.

So I see your A/B/O geopolitical hypothetical and raise you that while Philip WOULD climb Richard like an oak and bear him multiple viable heirs, the Anglo-Frankish Union wouldn’t last long due to differences in how the kingdoms would be inherited by the descendants of those multiple heirs. And with the complexities of succession laws in a gender trinary, the War of the Roses would only be more insane.

[considermycat]

This is literally what the Schleswig-Holstein Question was about. Well, the “conflicting laws of succession” bit, anyway. Not so much the ABO stuff. (But with the Schleswig-Holstein Question, who knows? Well, Lord Palmerston and two other people. But you see my point.)

[kyraneko]

What being on this site is like: every so often one of the flaming dumpsters floating by drops a fully realized academic paper overboard, and it floats over to you and you read it and it upends your understanding and revolutionizes your appreciation of a major geopolitical underpinning of European history upon which the very shape of modern civilization rests.

It's got medieval-style illustrations of Richard the Lionheart balls deep in Philip the Second, and they're thematically relevant.

[abyxdev]

a quip attributed to British statesman Lord Palmerston: "Only three people have ever really understood the Schleswig-Holstein business – the Prince Consort, who is dead – a German professor, who has gone mad – and I, who have forgotten all about it."

for those wondering who the other two people @considermycat mentioned were

[sanctumsfw-blog]

[me having read through every comment spawned from the original post and stripping out details wrt PhilRich to make things more generally usable instead of pertaining to a specific historical era while adding ideas garnered elsewhere]

Let's contemplate this little summarization of–

A Template for the World-Building of a Historically-based Terran Omegaverse AU

· Ask yourself these questions on legality wrt establishing succession and inheritance:

How would the socioeconomic and geopolitical implications of Omegaverse settings be influenced by, let's say, prehistoric anthropology, which in layman's terms = how far back was the Geological Age that saw the rise of the Omegaverse, i.e. the premise of when the biology of the ternary Alpha/Beta/Omega sexual castes first developed—perhaps the binary sexes began to show obsolescence during the late Pleistocene Epoch, similar to the gradual degeneration of the appendix—let's say the Holocene Epoch: so, would it be before the Ice Age when the earliest humans appeared, or at the beginning of modern human history after the Ice Age ended when humans rose to dominance who then joined together to form the first hunting bands, then clans/societies and started establishing rank and/or assigning duties? Keep in mind that the earliest lineages were based on maternal bloodlines, since paternity tests didn't exist in those days; however, that changed when male priests and kings who practiced early animistic religions realized that without a man's seed, women could not bring forth children, which eventually led to entry to the priesthood being barred to women, due to the rising belief that wombs were only empty gestational chambers where microscopic people that came from men's seed were deposited to grow until viability, even though women were attuned to the very first figures of worship; the rites honoring the natural cycles of earth and sky crossing paths with the sun and moon were increasingly conducted by men, who did not have a moon cycle their bodies were attuned to, and so they either created new figures of worship that made a better case for male attunement, or destroyed/denigrated references to female deities. In the Omegaverse, that likely translates into the justification of the transfer of power from Omega-centered households/royal courts/temples to being led by Alphas instead.

Would tasks be stratified along the lines of historical gender roles: for instance, Alphas become designated as those who go forth to hunt/gather and/or conquer/protect, Betas as those who offer care/support to the household which evolved into defining and upholding the law, especially those pertaining to hate crimes perpetrated upon the underprivileged caste(s) seen as weaker and disadvantaged due to societal norms/prejudices/discrimination, leading to the prevalent practice of masking one's caste in social situations, and Omegas as those who establish/improve upon agricultural practices by staying home to manage/rule the household/farm/settlement/realm—archeological journals have published articles citing evidence from ancient burial sites confirming that women were increasingly relegated to societally weaker roles upon the advent of agriculture, whereby burial chambers of high ranking females tended to contain significantly fewer treasures than males of equivalent rank, as the number of tombs of honored female hunters and/or warriors quickly diminished to the point of rarity by the Iron Age—or would Alphas subordinate any other biological caste, which could lead to mass protests and/or strikes that would be suppressed to reestablish order within the perceived hierarchy and regain the productivity of cottage industries? What, if any, are basic human rights in the Omegaverse from this point onwards? Where does the buck stop and revolution begin? What would be the Omegan equivalent of Jeanne d'Arc?

What biological advantages did this give our ancestors in a survival situation—would these increase the odds of protection and/or a successful mating?

Is A/B/O biology expressed as genetic traits inherited at conception and manifest upon reaching adolescence, or are they an epigenetic response influenced by environmental factors, up to and including the gender caste(s) of the parents, and/or statistical scarcity of the population of a particular caste?

Is A/B/O considered a spectrum where Betas could lean towards Alpha/Omega characteristics/behavior, or would the biological caste expressions be hardcoded where Beta bodies look intersex, with fully functional reproductive organs?

Would the formation of harems be encouraged, under what circumstances (e.g. infertility, alliance with higher ranking clans usually in return for monetary gain or power, etc.), and would this cause hierarchical competition for a mate's favor/patronage; in addition, how would top/bottom dynamics and/or kinks be regarded/negotiated?

How does all this influence the determination of which marital unions/progeny would be considered legal (agnatic/cognatic/morganatic, etc.)—would the concept of lineage follow paternal/maternal lines or A/B/O lines, how does that impact inheritance/succession laws especially when establishing the senior house versus cadet branches, and would the laws favor primogeniture/ultimogeniture/coparcenary birthright for the granting of estates/lands, titles and/or hereditary office such as lordship/Karta, asset transfer, etc.?

What if other societies/nations follow different lineage laws/suzerainty—royals/nobles were commonly given in marriage to allies/enemies to produce viable heirs who would supposedly unify the relevant parties via assimilation into the ruling structure; how would the resulting conflict involving the nobility rallying around various royal heirs due to ideological differences be resolved—would civil and/or international wars leading to a dynastic split become the established norm due to historically documented difficulties with modifying succession laws, or would mediation/arbitration settle matters, in which case who would be considered the ultimate authority, especially if there was religious incompatibility? How would all this impact the path to kingship/empery, how would the laws of heraldry work, the importance of bardcraft to track potential future allies and past traitors, how alliances were formed/discarded, the reasons/ways that wars were fought, the recruitment of which phenotypes for certain types of light/heavy infantry versus cavalry, the differing ways that fighting styles were taught, the crafting of female armor versus male armor because of the differences in the average height/weight, body shape and center of gravity?

Considering historical settings required the breeding of heirs, homophobia would likely be defined as unions between those of the same biological caste such as A-A and/or O-O (though not usually B-B) regardless of sex and/or gender, unless female Alphas and/or male Omegas present with fertility/gestation/childbirth difficulties (leading to perisexism), in which case Betas could become the dominant caste, but then what are the consequences if Betas are unable to reproduce because of the evolutionary conditions in that universe, but could legally arrange/command the marriages of their fecund family members; if so, would Beta caste heirs be selected via adoption and/or from Beta children born to their Alpha/Omega siblings and/or orphaned cousins, all of whom might be considered second class citizens or maybe even chattel in this type of society?

· And now for questions wrt modern societal norms, expectations, guidelines, products, etc.:

Would the term 'nuclear family' need to be redefined as a triad rather than a couple; and if there are children, can they now call themselves a pack/clan, or would more members be required?

Would a regular feature of the home include a large conversation pit which also doubles as the area for pack cosleeping, and is there a soundproofed rut/heat room nearby, in addition to the regular bedroom(s)?

Should everyone wear something that covers the neck glands to prevent accidentally flashing an intimate area, or would this type of restriction only apply to Alphas and/or Omegas?

Can we assume that there exists a vast range of pheromone suppressants/dupes/masking agents on the market: patches, sprays, roll-ons, pills, injections, etc., and would there be a black market for experimental suppressants that have yet to go through human trials which are available only to the ultra-wealthy who can afford the fines if caught?

How does having animalistic traits such as estrus cycles, pheromones, and rut/heat affect the establishment of policies for sick time off and/or parental leave as versus the un/expected breaking of pack bonds for bereavement leave?

Would traditionally conservative religious groups enforce/urge a time of seclusion for those in estrus similar to the barring of entry into temples for women on their period?

Are there support groups for those experiencing discrimination whose outer appearance doesn't match their scent?

Always keeping in mind international events and politics happening concurrently during the timeline starting from Classical Antiquity through the Modern Era, how would all of this change history as we know it?

[punkitt-is-here]

quirky fourth wall breaking character but theyre just fucking. wrong about the medium theyre in. they keep making references to cinematic techniques and directorial styles and the other fourth wall breaking character is like "dumbass we're in a fucking comic book" and they are in a video game.

[totally-cis-offical]

Well currently they’re in a tumblr post but I see your point

[snarktheater]

A great Twitter thread on character-driven stories, character arcs, and agency by Naomi Hughes

(The link she referenced is this article)

[parkchanwoohoo]

It is so fucking funny to me how easily scandalized some people are wym callout post for a cannibalism kink. Grow up. This is the nothingburger leagues and you're throwing up in the stands

[anomalocaris-in-da-clurb]

It’s actually the peopleburger leagues

[parkchanwoohoo]

Blocking for being funnier than me

[zmpl]

before we start posting that july is gay wrath month let’s consider that july is disability pride month first and foremost. the “be gay do crimes” memes can wait

[zmpl]

before this post breaches containment and people start going “why not both hehehe” i want you to seriously consider the very long history of disabled people’s existence being pushed aside and/or seen as secondary. i promise you it’s not going to hurt to hold onto the memes and give disabled people space for visibility and celebration.

i say this as a disabled trans person whose trans identity is made front-and-center to the (mainly cis) people who know i’m trans but my identity as a disabled person is brushed off by the very same people.

[asteroidtroglodyte]

Torn about celebrating the 4th of July this year because, on the one hand, I love Explosions, but I hate Nationalists. Torn.

[mysteryteacup]

The logical extrapolation is to explode the nationalists... *shrugs* Probably won't make pretty light displays with that, though.

[delsicle]

I’m not sure if this will be helpful to anyone, but you literally do not have to be a good writer to write and post fan fiction. Yes you will naturally get better at writing and finding your voice the more you do it but you do not have to be or become a professional level writer to enjoy writing and sharing fics. It’s common to hear people praise fic writers by saying their work is better than published books, and while I think this comes from a good place, that’s not the norm or expectation. There is also a sentiment that fic writing is “good practice” for becoming a better writer or doing something else later, but if fic is the only creative writing you ever do that is literally okay. Your technical skill does not mean you cannot have fun and build community with your writing, or that other people cannot love and find meaning in your work.

[mysteryteacup]

Fanfiction is a hobby. You are not obliged to improve at a hobby. You are not obliged to monetise a hobby. You - the hobbiest - are not obliged to be on par with professionals.

Turn your back on the insidious whispers of the capitalism mindset and return to posting fics that make you happy and are tagged "srry if thsi is confusing its 3am n i'm high".

[wildehacked]

things in fic I'm used to people kind of faking their way through writing about:

the city of los angeles

the city of new york

sex

how drinking alcohol works

how getting high works

how a child of any age speaks

how nuclear physics work

how [my job] works

how debilitating being shot in the shoulder is

how hypothermia works

things I have never before seen someone fake their way through writing about, until today:

what french toast is

[headspace-hotel]

read through the notes on this one trust me

[kiragecko]

Here's some of the notes, starting with the things multiple people brought up:

SHRIMP COCKTAIL:

banahbanah: #flashback to that one fic where Peter Parker frets about drinking shrimp cocktail because of the alcohol

generaldeliciousness: adding: what a prawn/shrimp cocktail is

#why is your character turning it down because they're under 21 #do you think prawn cocktail is a cocktail #this lives in my brain rent-free constantly #the rest of the fic was so normal #and good enough that i'll still re-read it #but bro

And then many, MANY, people wondering if this was actually authour mistake, since Peter really would do this!

POMEGRANATES:

zhajhassa: #haha where's that post that was like someone describing someone eating a pomegranate but they ate it like an apple

thornhands: #once someone wrote persephone biting into a whole Pomegranate #had to stop and stare at a wall for a minute

sungsingsanguine: I once saw someone very confidently write about a character eating slices of pomegranate.

FRUIT TREES:

zagreuses-toast: #given a very endearing glimpse into a writers blindspots by seeing them describe someone sitting under a ''pineapple tree''

salatrash: I remember something about picking watermelons... OF A FUCKING TREE

baander: #cranberry trees

DOUGH/BATTER:

maycelium: #I'm a chef so I'm really used to people not accurately describing how to cook food #But I was surprisingly flabbergasted when someone was writing making a cake and was kneading it. Which uh #Not necessary for cake. It was interesting for sure but just bizarre

livebloggingmydescentintomadness: #the one that drove me nuts was when a character set aside a batch of PASTA DOUGH 'to rise' #pasta doesn't have yeast!! #it does need to REST but it will never RISE #you do not want an airy crumb on your noodles

lovesodeepandwideandwell: #THE ONE WHERE THEY MADE COOKIES BY LADLING BATTER INTO A TRAY

Some other topics:

ANIMALS:

catenarwhal: #mandatory 'how cows produce milk' mention#i'll never recover from that one I fear

piromantic: #one time i saw someone fake their way through describing how spiders behave

pluto-lichen: horses

misskittypotter: #stardew valley faking its way through what fresh fish smell like

pa-pa-plasma: #saw someone faking their way through knowing what a seal is once #i still am fucked up over that one to this day. they just straight up did not know #& they were NOT good at guessing it either like it was clear they had never googled that animal ever #& was only just now realizing via answering questions from anons that seals are not!! what they assumed. initially

SEX:

dykevandyke: #what a prostate is #and where it is located #as in. external.

dreamyeyedrose: #I remember back in the ff.net days reading an Ichigo/Renji fic where the writer assumed the penises go inside each other #and I was like “I mean I don't know how it works for sure I don't have one but idk if that's how it works”

SOME OTHER FOOD STUFF:

thetrekkiehasthephonebox: #add another one to the list bloggers#this character is cooking a salad

shosta: #still baffled about the published work that didn't know food could freeze

sun-dari: #once i read a fic where the author didn't understand cinnamon

alto-tenure: #read something recently where the author was just. blatantly wrong about spices

dramatic-dolphin: #i saw someone try to fake their way through what ramen is once. like 14 years ago.#but i remember.#i was very confused about ramen for a few months. they were writing it so authoritatively.

the-celery-stalks-at-midnight: #i will never ever forget someone putting leftover fries in the microwave to reheat them and setting the timer for five minutes

typeghost: #this sparked a memory of a hannibal fic where the author had to fake their way through writing about gravy

draculin: #the one fanfic where the author knows about coffee only as a concept wrote a character as a coffee drinker#was very interesting#I don't remember the fandom or the plot but I was mesmerized by the coffee actions and choices

11235811235811: #there's a lot of faking their way thru congee in the svsss fandom i'll also note

fishali3n: #read one where the person clearly didnt know what tofu is

emmy-everafter: #in the aftermath of shadow and bone s2 i saw a lot of people pretending to know what stroopwafels are #babes they are more like cookies than breakfast waffles #like yes there is a waffle pattern but you're not gonna cut into a stack of them with syrup and sugar#🤣🤣🤣

NON-FOOD STUFF:

red-umbrella-811: Shoutout to Dame Agatha Christie for faking her way through what a wrench is in a very popular published work.

bluebeetle: #once saw someone have a character put an entire phone book in their pocket

nonametis: #- sex talk in languages other than english #<- or just the petnames in a different language other than English

sadisticpony: #the fanfiction i saw this week where op DIDNT KNOW HOW AUTOMATIC DOORS WORKED #and that they arent in peoples homes!!! of course. also opening the automatic door for someone is unironically very funny but its not #its not like. grabbing the door handle to let someone in. helpppp

danmeichael: #reminds me of the fic with the figure drawing class where the character started with the feet. #i love you feet first figure drawing author

meowmix1100blr: #me watching this one fic absolutely obliterate what the board of directors does

vexedhexes: #one time i read an architect character making a doorway bigger by building a bigger door #what a beautiful world. #OH. also gravity falls fic where they go 'oh piedmont is in california so its warm all year round'

leveragehunters: #characters going to a beer garden #And it's literally a garden outside the pub#It was a very cute mistake

fitofpique: #yes! #grown men do not get blind drunk off two beers #but i am possibly guilty of the hypothermia one #assuming it does not make you very horny?

dadvans-likes: #always thinking abt the soup kitchen fic #the entire setting of the fic was 'soup kitchen' #and i very quickly realized #the author did not know what a soup kitchen was #and they thought that soup kitchens only served soup #fic

msmargaretmurry: #i love fanfiction #once read a fic where the characters played 20 questions #but the author seemed to not know how to play 20 questions and was just kind of winging it........ #immaculate

shakespeareaddict: #Look I know not all of us are hockey experts #But it takes about ten seconds of research or any attention paid to the show to realize #That the Stanley cup playoffs are not in fucking September

baejax-the-great: #the funniest one i saw #was someone faking what church is like #like 1. they really didn't have to write an entire church experience for their fic #and 2. they had clearly never even watched a show where people went to church #it was bonkers weird

twosunson: #things ive seen authors faking #knowing how to unclog a drain #knowing. literally any history #knowing what ketamine looks like (apparently- oregano) #(you know who you are)

waterhorseyblues-ao3: #beltane being celebrated in winter #wales being portrayed as a completely separated land from england (i wish) #characters getting up after weeks of bedrest like that dosnt completely fuck you up

violetfairydust: #i once read a fic where the flight time from london to seattle was 3 hours

purekesseltrash: One time, in a fic set specifically in Des Moines, IA, two of the characters casually drove 20 minutes to the ocean. The memory continues to delight me. I want to know where that author thought that Iowa was.

[andy-nekonata]

Remember: April is Procrastination Awareness Month.

[bareniabirkin]

😟😳😳😳

[squadron-of-damned]

#idk what this means or if i do this but ig i'll just hold my phone with my pinky stuck out from now on?? 

Good question, also no that won’t help.

shitty MS Paint 3 minutes doodle, nto entirely accurate: When you have your pinky hooked on the “bottom” edge of the phone for the extra security so it doesn’t slide out of your hand that easily, you’re wreaking damage on your hand, since the pinky is extremely askew from it’s resting position. You might have noticed that when you hold your phone like that for long time it begins to hurt, like when you are gripping a pen too tightly for example.

Green lines - the fingers are going their natural way. Red line - the pinky is way off, that’s bad.

[theclockworkjudas]

Me: Oh, good thing I never-

Me, looking down at hand: By talos this can't be happening

[h4nds4ndwich]

oh thats why my hadns have started to always be in pain ok

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

this post is five years old and has been repeatedly debunked, why is this going around again

What is 'phone pinky'? Breaking down the internet myth | CBC News

A TikTok trend is is prompting people to show off 'dents' in their pinky they believe are caused by their phone. But experts say 'phone pink

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

The post doesn't say anything about "changing the shape of your pinky". It says that holding your hand in this position for long periods of time can aggravate one of the three nerves that control the main motor functions of your hand. You are debunking something that this post never mentioned.

I don't use phones all that much, but I put similar stress on my pinky by the way I use a computer mouse, and I promise you that it absolutely does cause me hand and wrist problems.

[ineffectualdemon]

I got a pop socket because of this post and have been conscious of how I hold my phone since.

It has genuinely helped my hand pain

[makingqueerhistory]

Instead of Leaving This Hate Comment You Could Read This Book!

People Without History Are Dust

Queerness remains one of the most stigmatized and overlooked aspects of Holocaust history, often erased due to the lingering homophobia of survivors. People Without History Are Dust challenges this silence, weaving together compelling stories of German, Dutch, Czech, and Polish Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors - including Anne Frank, Molly Applebaum, Margot Heuman, and Gad Beck - whose experiences help illuminate the hidden history of queerness in a time of genocide.

Drawing on extensive archival research, this groundbreaking book uncovers the lives of those who were doubly marginalized, not only persecuted as Jews but also as queer individuals. In doing so, it confronts the ways in which history has excluded or minimized their experiences, urging us to question normative accounts of the Holocaust.

By shedding light on these long-overlooked stories, People Without History Are Dust deepens our understanding of identity, survival, and memory, reminding us why an inclusive and complex approach to history is essential - not just for the sake of the past, but in service to the present and the future as well.

*Affiliate link above*

[mysteryteacup]

Hey, uh, Vampire the Masqureade fans? I'm trying to do a write up of a realistic takeover plan for Purpee for Dimension 20's VtM season and I don't know your game very well. And the wikis are very confusing with a lot of links.

Could someone give me a quick run down of how many positions (prince, primogens, etc) there are in a city's Camarilla court and how many clans/types/subclasses??? of vampire there are (I know nosferatu and ...ventrue?) that would be expected to have a primogen in a city.

pls help i'm very smol and lost.

[fuckyeahlabynight]

Hello! Allow me to help with your questions.

First, I'll quickly cover the Camarilla structure.

At the VERY top, there are the Inner Circle and the Justicars, who determine the laws that they want all of Kindred around the world to obey. If a Prince fucks up, it's the Justicars who will punish them by sending agents called Archons. I don't know where the Justicars are based, so don't worry too much about them. In most VtM games, they never come up.

Each city run by the Camerilla has a Prince. (A Prince can be any gender, and may choose to go by another title such as "Sovereign." Most of the time, they go by Prince though, even if they are female or NB.) In order to claim a city as theirs, a Prince declares what's known as Praxis, which summarizes the Prince's "right" to hold power over the city.

Under the Prince is the Primogen Council, which is made up of one member of each clan in the city. The Primogen is often (but not always) the oldest and most powerful member of that clan in the city, and represents the entire clan in court meetings. The Prince may also seek advice from their Primogen Council. Occasionally, an individual Primogen will have a second in command known as the Clan Whip. If a clan has only a very small population in a city, (like, less than 10 maybe) the Prince might not bother with having them be represented by a Primogen. I'd expect that, despite probably only having one, MAYBE 2 members of their clans in Purpee, City Council of Darkness will probably have them all be the Primogens for their clans anyways for the lols.

The Seneschal is the personal advisor to the Prince, the Prince's second in command, and acts as the Prince when the Prince is unavailable.

The Sheriff is the one who hunts down Kindred rule breakers and punishes them according to the Prince's orders, including preforming executions. Sometimes the Sheriff has deputies, known as Scourges or Hounds.

The Herald is the messenger for the Prince, who makes sure the Prince's messages reach the ears and/or eyes of all the Kindred in the city. They also often collect (and spread) gossip. Sometimes they're called Harpies. (Especially if the Herald is female.)

The Keeper of Elysium is the city's Kindred events coordinator, and makes sure everyone obeys the rules of Kindred gatherings. In particular, it's usually forbidden for Kindred to use disciplines at Elysium, because they don't want to risk triggering their Beasts into frenzy and possible murder and/or Masquerade violations.

The Shadow is a formal advisor assigned by the Prince to watch over a coterie of young vampires to help shepherd them, teach them Kindred ways, and act as a go-between for the coterie and the Council.

And now a quick rundown of the clans! There are 14 of them in Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition. I'll do them in alphabetical order. You should *definitely* do more reading on these yourself, because each clan has it's favored disciplines, and it's own clan banes, etc. There's a LOT more to them than what I've written here!

Banu Haqim - Known for their passion for justice and upholding their very strict moral codes.

Brujah - Rebels who usually oppose authority. It is EXTREMELY RARE to have them in the Camarilla. They're usually the spearhead of the Anarch movement. (Apparently Zeath is a Brujah though lol)

Gangrel - Kindred who tend to be more animal/beast-like. They are also usually Anarchs. (The Camarilla don't want "animals" in their court...)

Hecata - Necromancers who use blood magic to create zombie slaves, trap ghosts, etc. They usually only embrace new vampires from within their own family.

Lasombra - Kindred who use shadows and Oblivion powers. (The thing Bat Child has in her throat.) They have strong ties to the Catholic Church and have only recently been allowed back into the Camarilla.

Malkavian - Kindred who are cursed at their creation with some kind of mental illness, the symptoms of which can be very extreme.

The Ministry - AKA The Followers of Set. They believe vampires have a different origin than the accepted dogma, and as such, don't play along well with the Camarilla. They tend to be lairs and tricksters with lots of snake imaginary.

Nosferatu - Cursed with the "repulsive" flaw, often have a hideous outside appearance. Known for being very strong, usually very smart, and often using Obfuscate to hide themselves. (Darkness Man.)

Ravnos - Another mostly Anarch clan. They are cursed with Wanderlust. They have to sleep in a different place at least once a week, or they start burning alive from the inside! They tend to be daredevils.

Salubri - A clan that has almost been hunted to extinction because their blood tasted ridiculously good to other Kindred. Their curse is that and also each one has a third eye in the middle of their forehead that weeps blood when they use their disciplines. There are only rumored to be 6 left in the entire world. (But you can fudge that for your own storytelling.)

Toreador - The very beautiful, glamorous, art-loving Kindred. (Madeline is a very stereotypical Toreador.)

Tremere - The Blood Witches and Wizards, often feared by the other clans for their blood magic. They have their own internal social structure called the Pyramid.

Tzimisce - The flesh crafters who can change their own appearance to be however they want. (And can change the appearance of other people too at high levels.) They tend to be your "dark lord in a high castle" type, and Dracula was one in the VtM lore.

Ventrue - The Clan of Kings who usually prefer to be in charge of things. Most of them are in the Camarilla. They tend to be big users of Dominate to both get people to do their bidding, and to wipe their memories afterwards. (LaVonte is a Ventrue.)

Thin-Bloods - What's this? An extra clan? Well, kind-of. You see, each generation of Kindred has "weaker" or "thinner" blood than the generation that came before them, to the point now where sometimes, vampires are created who are not considered by most other vampires to be "real" vampires at all. These are called Thin-Bloods or Duskborn. They have their own abilities, Thin-Blood Alchemy, that can mimic or replicate the disciplines "normal" vampires get. Sometimes Duskborn can walk in the daylight, or eat human food, or still have their heart beat. They still have to drink blood though. They're not quite human, and not quite vampire. (For more on Thin Bloods, I strongly recommend you watch Project Ghostlight: Private Nightmares on Youtube.)

The clans that are favoured by the Camarilla are the Ventrue, Toreador, Tremere, Nosferatu and Malkavian. All the others are generally considered either entirely unwelcome, or on a case-by-case individual basis as determined by the Prince of that city. The reasons for why this is are very long and complicated in the VtM lore, it but basically boils down to either religious war, or Anarch rebellion.

Please feel free to ask me any other questions about Vampire the Masquerade you have!

[mysteryteacup]

Wow, thank you, that's a very in-depth run down! 💜💜

I guess my main questions are how many primogens would be expected/normal for a city to have and can a vampire hold both the position of a clan primogen and one of the prince's government office positions (idk what better to call the ones you listed as working for the prince)? Like, can someone be both the Herald/Harpie and on the primogen council or is hoarding positions a no-go?

(I'm working on a fan essay about what an actual plan not made by clowns for the takeover of the tiny city/town would look like, so I'm trying to figure out what positions they would be able to fill to build their power base vs how many more people they would have to bring in later as they grew their city and what - strategically - would be the best positions for them to take, if that makes sense?)