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== Blood Bond ==

Vampire blood is an aphrodisiac, more addictive than any other substance known to man. It provides false emotions and affects both mortals and other vampires with heady, unwilling love for the person from whom they drink. This sensation – and the lingering effect – is dangerous, as vampires enslave one another by overcoming a victim’s resistance through repeated tastes of blood.

Many undead exploit the heady emotions found in drinking vampire blood, or vitae, to stir passion in their dead hearts, but it is a dangerous rush. If a being, mortal or vampire alike, drinks from the same vampire on three separate nights, she falls under the sway of a mystical state known as the blood bond. The blood bond is an enslavement of the emotions, where the individual bound is affected by an obsessive, all-encompassing love for the individual from whom she drank. This enthrallment is stronger than any other drive in the individual’s life: greater even than self-preservation. Supernatural powers, such as Dominate or Presence, cannot change the victim’s blood-bound emotions. She will do anything, suffer anything, to please her beloved. Only true love has a chance of defeating such a bond.

A vampire who holds another in such bondage is said to be the victim’s regnant, while the individual thus bound is called a thrall.

A blood bond must be maintained with further drinks, or it will fade with time. Further, it is in a regnant’s best interest to
maintain a good relationship with her thralls, as thralls who are constantly abused and humiliated by their regnants will find the bond fading. Thralls who are treated with affection and respect find the bond to be as strong as iron, and they find it far harder to resist their regnant’s commands.

Blood bonds are commonly used to control and ensure the loyalty of mortals and ghouls, but it is possible for vampires to bind each other as well. The process has three steps, corresponding to the number of drinks a victim has taken from a vampire:

• First drink: The drinker begins to experience intermittent but strong feelings of infatuation about the vampire. She may dream of him, or find herself “coincidentally” frequenting places where he might show up. There is no mechanical effect at this stage, but it should be roleplayed. All childer have this level of bond toward their sires, for the Embrace itself requires one drink from the sire; the childe may love her parent, hate him, or both, but she is rarely indifferent.

• Second drink: The drinker’s feelings grow strong enough to influence her behavior. Though she is by no means enslaved to the vampire, he is definitely an important figure in her life. She may act as she pleases, but must spend a point of Willpower per hour if she wishes to directly harm her regnant. Additionally, defensive Social test pools to resist her regnant’s powers suffer a -1 penalty.

• Third drink: Full blood bond. At this level, the drinker is completely bound to the vampire. He is the most important person in her life; lovers, relatives, and even children become secondary to her all-consuming passion. A thrall must spend a point of Willpower anytime she wishes to do something that she believes her regnant would disapprove of, and she must spend 3 Willpower per hour to attempt to directly harm her regnant. Additionally, defensive Social and Mental test pools to resist her regnant’s powers suffer a -3 penalty. A drinker can experience lesser (one- and two-drink) bonds toward several individuals, but upon the formation of a full blood bond, all lesser bonds are wiped away. Additionally, the vampire is immune to other blood bonds until her three-point bond drops to a two-point bond or less.

=== Breaking a Blood Bond ===

It is possible, though difficult, to break a blood bond. If a regnant is killed, the bond will slowly fade over the next month.

• A three-point blood bond must be reinforced regularly. If the thrall avoids drinking her regnant’s blood for three months, her bond will fade and become a two point bond.

• A two-point bond lasts until the thrall is able to spend six months without meeting or speaking to her regnant.

• A one-point bond lasts until the thrall has spent a full year without meeting or speaking to her regnant.

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