Backgrounds in the Gaslight

Changes to Backgrounds in Victorian-Era Vampire from the modern day.

How Vampire Backgrounds Change in Victorian Vampire: Albion — 1838

A Vampire character's Backgrounds answer an important question: What does your character possess in the world beyond Disciplines, Attributes, and Skills?

Who owes you favors? Who brings you information? Where do you sleep? Who protects you while the sun is in the sky? How wealthy are you? Who knows your name? Who can you call upon when supernatural power alone cannot solve the problem?

For Victorian Vampire: Albion, set in London in 1838, most of the familiar Vampire Backgrounds still work—but what they represent changes considerably.

The current One World of Darkness V20 LARP SRD uses the 2013 By Night Studios system and lists Allies, Contacts, Fame, Generation, Haven, Herd, Influences, Resources, and Retainers among its Backgrounds. Mentor is not a standard Background in that ruleset, and Status is handled through its own Status system rather than as a Background.

Older Vampire: The Masquerade rules, including those upon which Victorian Age: Vampire was built, treated the selection somewhat differently. For Albion, we can use the modern LARP mechanics where appropriate while interpreting them through the society, technology, and limitations of 1838.

That distinction is important.

A dot on the character sheet may remain a dot.

What that dot actually looks like in London is very different.

The Victorian Difference

The original Victorian Age: Vampire specifically warns Storytellers that Backgrounds need to be understood differently in the nineteenth century. Communication is expanding, but Kindred society remains constrained by daylight, distance and local reputation. Allies and Contacts tend to be regional, and an elder respected in Budapest cannot simply assume the same social standing upon arriving in London. The book also emphasizes the importance of servants and Retainers to wealthy or socially prominent vampires.

There is one additional adjustment we need for Albion's specific year of 1838. Victorian Age: Vampire covers a much broader Victorian period and therefore discusses railways, telegraphs and photography as forces transforming Kindred society. In 1838, those revolutions are only beginning. Britain's first practical telegraph experiments occurred in 1837, with railway applications developing in 1838; the first public telegraph service followed in 1839. 

So an Albion character cannot simply send a telegram across England whenever convenient.

In 1838, letters, servants, trusted messengers, coaches, ships, newspapers and personal introductions still matter enormously.

That should affect Backgrounds.

Allies — People Who Will Act for You

In a modern chronicle, an Ally might be a lawyer, politician, doctor, police officer, journalist or business executive whom you can contact relatively quickly.

The concept remains the same in 1838, but access becomes much more personal.

A Victorian Ally should usually have a name, profession, social position and location. Your Ally might be a Member of Parliament, magistrate, Anglican clergyman, physician, barrister, army officer, wealthy merchant, newspaper editor, theatre manager, railway investor or respected member of a gentleman's club.

Working-class Allies can be just as valuable: a dock foreman, coachman, publican, printer, undertaker, market trader or experienced Thames boatman may accomplish things an aristocrat never could.

What changes is speed and reach.

If your Ally is in York and you are standing in London at midnight, you cannot telephone him. Someone must carry the message. An urgent favor may therefore require hours or days rather than minutes.

This is precisely the sort of social networking encouraged by the Victorian Age Vampire Companion. Its discussion of Freemasonry and other fraternal societies shows how membership, introductions, private lodges and networks of associates can provide access to people a Kindred would otherwise never meet.

For Albion, Allies are people willing to do something for you—not merely tell you something.

Contacts — The Eyes and Ears of London

Contacts are information.

In modern Vampire, information can come from computers, databases, mobile phones, security systems and electronic records.

Not in 1838.

A Victorian Contact knows something because someone saw it, heard it, wrote it down, or carried word of it somewhere else.

A clerk at Scotland Yard might hear about an unusual murder. A servant in a noble household might know which foreign gentleman visited after midnight. A dockworker might remember an unmarked crate unloaded from a French ship. A newspaper compositor may know tomorrow's headline tonight. A coachman knows where his employer went. A gravedigger knows which coffin was strangely light.

The Metropolitan Police already exists in 1838—it was founded in 1829—but London's formal Detective Branch will not be created until 1842. 

That makes Contacts particularly important.

There is no computerized police record to search.

There is Constable Higgins, who owes you a favor.

Influence — Power Through Mortal Institutions

Modern BNS rules divide Influence broadly into Elite and Underworld, representing networks through legitimate institutions and those operating outside respectable law. 

That division works very well for Albion, but the institutions need Victorian names.

Elite Influence in 1838 might run through Parliament, the aristocracy, the royal household, the Church of England, banking houses, universities, medical institutions, newspapers, major merchants, the military, railway companies, or colonial commercial interests.

Underworld Influence might include thieves, fences, smugglers, dockside gangs, illegal gambling establishments, corrupt servants, informants, receivers of stolen property, tavern networks and the inhabitants of London's poorer districts who know how to make people—or evidence disappear.

Influence should also remain local unless there is a reason otherwise. Victorian Age: Vampire specifically stresses that growing spheres of power require Kindred to keep track of more and more people, while Allies and Contacts may still be restricted geographically.

A vampire with political Influence in London does not automatically command Manchester.

Status — Who Are You Among the Kindred?

This is one area where the modern BNS system and older Vampire rules differ significantly.

In the current V20 LARP SRD, Status is its own system of named traits such as Established, Favored, Noble, Praised, Prominent, and others; it is not purchased alongside the ordinary Background list.

For Albion, Status should mean recognized standing within Kindred society, not mortal class.

A character might be a mortal duke with vast Resources, Fame and Influence and still possess very little standing among London's elders.

Conversely, a Nosferatu living beneath Whitechapel may appear destitute to mortals while being owed favors by Kindred three centuries older than Queen Victoria.

Albion Status should therefore come from things such as acknowledged lineage, age, service to London, office, boons, reputation, clan standing, recognition by the Regent and Privy Council, and demonstrated adherence to the Blood Laws.

Mortal title is not automatically Kindred Status.

That distinction should matter constantly in play.

Fame — Famous Without Television, Radio or the Internet

The modern Fame Background assumes recognition can potentially spread across a city, region or country. The SRD specifically describes fame through careers, art, wealth or birth and makes higher ratings progressively broader. 

The principle remains true in 1838.

The mechanism changes.

A famous Victorian might be known because of the theatre, opera, literature, political speeches, military accomplishments, aristocratic scandal, sermons, newspaper coverage, caricatures, engravings, lithographs, playbills or appearances at court.

Recognition is also more class-dependent. A celebrated opera singer may be instantly recognized among London's fashionable classes but completely unknown in a dockside tavern. A notorious prizefighter may have precisely the opposite problem.

The Victorian Age Vampire Companion provides a useful supernatural example with the Daughters of Cacophony: it notes that many possess significant Fame and Herd because of their contacts with mortal society and their careers as performers.

One important Albion rule of thumb should therefore be:

Fame means recognition within the world in which your character is famous.

And fame is dangerous. The more people recognize you, the harder it becomes to explain why your face never ages.

Haven — Where the Dead Sleep by Day

The modern Haven Background allows everything from a mansion to hidden tunnels, with advantages such as Guards, Library, Location, Luxury, Security, Size, Staff, and occult protection. 

Those concepts transfer beautifully into 1838, but the details change.

A Victorian Haven might be a Mayfair townhouse, rooms above a closed shop, a country manor, a warehouse cellar, an abandoned church crypt, private chambers inside a gentleman's club, a riverside property, a forgotten Roman chamber beneath London, or a concealed room behind a respectable business.

Luxury means fine furniture, imported rugs, paintings, a private library, wine cellar, servants, and perhaps gas lighting—not televisions and electronics.

Security means iron locks, shutters, barred cellar doors, stone walls, hidden entrances, guard dogs and loyal servants—not alarms and cameras.

Staff becomes particularly important. The Victorian sourcebook explicitly connects wealthy Kindred with servants and notes that a highly visible wealthy individual without servants would appear socially peculiar.

A Haven should therefore tell us something about who your vampire pretends to be.

Herd — Blood Without the Hunt

The modern Background describes Herd as mortals from whom a vampire can feed with comparatively little risk. 

That works unchanged mechanically.

What changes is the population.

A Victorian Herd might consist of trusted household servants, members of a private club, admirers of a performer, a religious or occult circle, members of a criminal gang, regular patrons of a tavern, a family that has served the vampire for generations, or mortals drawn into the vampire's social orbit through charity, employment, or fascination.

There are no refrigerated blood banks for your character to casually raid.

Your blood supply is made of people.

That makes Herd an especially useful Background for roleplay. Players should know at least generally who these people are and why they continue returning.

The Companion's Daughters of Cacophony again illustrate how Fame, mortal contacts, and Herd can naturally overlap in a Victorian chronicle.

Mentor — Patronage Among the Damned

Mentor requires special treatment because it appears in older Vampire rules but is not one of the standard Backgrounds in the modern 2013 BNS list. 

For Albion, Mentor is nevertheless too appropriate to discard entirely.

Victorian society revolves around patronage, introductions and hierarchy. Among vampires, this becomes even more pronounced.

A Mentor might be your sire, Primogen, ancient clan scholar, powerful elder, occult teacher, influential patron or respected member of the Privy Council.

A Mentor should not function like a Retainer.

You do not order your Mentor around.

You ask.

And powerful elders rarely assist without remembering the debt.

For Albion, Mentor is therefore best treated as a Storyteller-controlled Background or character connection representing access to knowledge, introductions, training, political shelter, and occasional intervention.

The higher the Mentor's value, the more significant the patron—but also the more serious the expectations attached to the relationship.

Resources — Wealth Means Something Different in 1838

Resources require one of the largest conversions.

The modern SRD talks about liquid cash, credit, corporations, investments, cars, electronics, hedge funds, and monthly dollar spending limits.

Those numbers should not simply be carried into Albion.

The original Victorian Age: Vampire explicitly recalibrates Resources for the nineteenth century and, more importantly, ties wealth to social class and property. At the lower end are savings and modest lodgings; the middle tiers represent respectable middle-class and bourgeois living; higher ratings represent the upper classes and substantial estates; the highest level describes enormous accumulated landed wealth. The book also stresses that Victorian fortunes can be tied up in land, art and property rather than ready cash.

For Albion, think in terms of land, rental income, annuities, government securities, merchant houses, shipping interests, mines, factories, railway investment, inheritance, jewelry, art and family estates.

A vampire may therefore be extraordinarily wealthy while carrying remarkably little cash.

Resources should describe standard of living and economic power, not the number of pounds currently in the character's pocket.

Retainers — Perhaps the Most Important Victorian Background

Modern Retainers are intensely loyal mortals—usually ghouls—who can protect property, carry out orders, and act when the vampire cannot. 

In Victorian Albion, Retainers become even more important.

Your valet dresses you and handles correspondence. Your butler answers the door at noon. Your lady's maid explains that you are indisposed. Your coachman brings the carriage after sunset. Your secretary manages invitations. Your ghoul receives deliveries, purchases property, meets solicitors, pays servants, and makes excuses when your daytime presence is requested.

The Victorian sourcebook even says socially prominent mortals are expected to have servants, and that Retainers help maintain the illusion of normal life by handling appointments and daytime obligations. It also notes their importance when vampires travel, especially because vampires are helpless during daylight.

For a wealthy Ventrue or Toreador in 1838, having Resources without appropriate Retainers may itself look strange.

Your servants are not merely NPC assistants.

They are part of your Masquerade.

What This Means for Albion Players

When purchasing a Background for Victorian Vampire: Albion, do not merely write:

Contacts 3.

Write something closer to:

Contacts 3 — Fleet Street printers, Scotland Yard constables and Thames dockworkers.

Do not simply write:

Resources 4.

Know whether that wealth comes from an inherited estate, shipping, banking, industry, or generations of carefully concealed Kindred investment.

Do not simply write:

Retainer 3.

Know the person's name.

Know whether they are your valet, secretary, coachman, ghoul or household steward.

And know what they think you are.

That is the largest difference between modern and Victorian Backgrounds. The mechanics describe approximately the same kinds of power, but Victorian society makes those connections more personal, more local, more dependent upon class and reputation, and much harder to replace.

In 1838, there is no smartphone containing a vampire's network.

There is a handwritten address book.

There are sealed letters.

There are calling cards.

There are club memberships and family names.

There is the servant who has protected your sleeping body for twenty-seven years.

And there is always someone in London who knows someone else.

For the Kindred of Victorian Vampire: Albion, that may be worth far more than money.