View source for Prestation and the Ivory Tower

''(Please note this is from the BNS book, and has not yet been edited to fit BAMverse)''



''“There is no power without price.”''

— Ignatius Insolens, Tremere Regent of Nuremberg

Immortal predators do not measure wealth in gold, money,
or possessions. They can achieve these things simply by
existing long enough and managing resources wisely. That
which comes from mortals is transitory and might disappear
at a moment’s notice. Vampires have existed through the
rise and fall of mortal empires.

Boons are the coin of the Kindred and reflect one’s wealth
in the Camarilla. A boon is the acknowledgement of debt
between two Kindred, usually recorded by the Harpy of
the domain. This formalization of relationships between
two predators allows for the complex social structure of the
Camarilla to exist without open violence.

All Kindred involved in the deal must be amenable to the
boon, and any stipulations or clauses carried on the boon
must be stated when it is recorded. The vampire who owes
a boon is typically referred to as the debtor. The vampire
who owns the boon is known as the creditor, as she offered
services in promise of a future payment.

A debtor can only permanently rid herself of a boon by
repaying it or formally ignoring the favor, risking the wrath
of the Harpies. Regardless of the standing of the creditor, if
the debtor ignores a major, blood, or life boon, she always
loses status — nobody likes a vampire who brushes off
someone who just went through serious hardship on her
behalf.

Creditors who accept a boon typically require one stipulation:
“You cannot physically harm me for the duration of this
boon.” All stipulations must be recorded by the Harpy and
are enforced by said office.

== The Measure of a Boon ==

Over the last 600 years, Harpies around the world have
worked diligently to quantify boons and encourage a thriving
economy, which keeps the Ivory Tower operating. The
following metrics have evolved to prevent misunderstandings
and wild boon inflation across the Camarilla.

=== Trivial Boon ===

A trivial boon is a simple favor owed for receiving a minor
service, political consideration, or forgiving a social faux
pas. This type of boon should be freely offered and accepted,
much like a business card. Payment of a trivial boon should
involve simple one-time favors or services that take no more
than a single game session or a night to complete.

Example Scenarios Involving Trivial Boons:

• Making a formal social introduction to an important
Kindred

• Covering a potentially embarrassing social faux pas in
front of the Harpy

• Warning someone about a potential danger to them

• Supporting a political or social agenda that doesn’t
undermine your own position

• Assisting with a task for the evening, such as working
security for a salon

• Leveraging one of your disciplines to aid your
creditor’s cause

'''The Backbone of the Boon Economy: Trivial Boons'''

A trivial boon is an excellent way to start a relationship. Is there an elder you want to meet? Offer
a trivial boon to the Kindred who can make the introduction for you. Are you afraid that you mildly
offended the Prince? Offer her a trivial boon.

=== Minor Boon ===

A minor boon represents a favor that requires a significant
amount of time or effort, but low risk. Payment of a minor
boon should involve simple one-time favors or services that
take no more than two game sessions or a month (whichever
is longer) to complete.

Example Scenarios Involving Minor Boons:

• Helping someone find safe passage through a hostile city

• Leveraging backgrounds and influences on someone’s
behalf

• Revealing crucial information

• Disposing of a threat without risking life or blood

• Teaching low levels of common disciplines

=== Major Boon ===

A major boon represents a large debt that requires a good
deal of time or resources to pay, which may involve risking
your personal political or social capital. Payment of a major
boon should involve one-time favors or services that take
no more than six game sessions or three months (whichever
is longer) to complete.

Example Scenarios Involving Major Boons:

• Leveraging your backgrounds and influences to
someone else’s agenda

• Teaching the creditor advanced levels of a common
discipline or low levels of an uncommon or rare discipline

• Revealing a major secret that is potentially very damaging

• Purchasing a major business, building, or land

• Aligning yourself with a political or social agenda that
potentially harms your own position with your clan and
allies, such as supporting someone’s bid for praxis

=== Blood Boon ===

A blood boon is a sacred debt that can only be repaid by
shedding blood on behalf of the creditor. The debtor will
betray allies, ruin her reputation, or place herself in a
potentially life-threatening situation in order to further the
agenda of the creditor, thus the name “blood boon.”

Example Scenarios Involving Blood Boons:

• Coming to another’s aid and suffering grievous injury

• Betraying clan secrets or teaching proprietary disciplines,
knowing that you will be labeled a traitor if discovered

• Assisting in a praxis seizure via force, and killing allies
to see it done

• Holding off a fearsome enemy so that the creditor can flee

• Murdering a rival or an enemy knowing that you might
be blood hunted if you are caught

=== Life Boon ===

A life boon is a rare boon that should only be given in
circumstances when a vampire saves another vampire from
an external threat that will destroy the life of the debtor.

A powerful vampire cannot simply threaten a weak enemy
and claim a life boon for not destroying her. Owing a life
boon can be tragic. Many vampires consider owing a life
boon as equivalent to being an unreleased childer. To owe a
life boon is to surrender all of your own will until you have
saved the life of the one that owns your life boon.

Example Scenarios Involving Life Boons:

• Protecting a fugitive (who might even be Bloodhunted
or on the Red List) on behalf of your creditor

• Protecting your creditor from the Prince’s justice to the
bitter end

• Hiding a terrible crime, such as diablerie or infernalism

• Saving the life of another vampire from an enemy at
significant risk to your own life

== Kindred Credit: Owing Boons ==

Harpies distrust outsider Kindred who refuse to owe boons.
In fact, a Kindred who does not have at least one registered
boon to another member of the Camarilla suffers from the
lesser social ban.

The Camarilla depends on the interconnected web of
status and prestation to help preserve the Traditions. A
vampire who owes nobody has nothing to contain or chain
her actions. A vampire who refuses to play by the system
is worse than a rogue. Neonates refer to these loners as
“vampire hobos,” living on the edge of society and ignoring
bonds of loyalty or propriety.

An advantage to owing a boon is that once a vampire offers
a boon to repay a debt or forgive an insult, the topic is
usually never discussed again. Offer an insulted vampire a
boon and, if accepted, you are certain that she will not seek
revenge in the future. If that insult is brought up again, the
Harpies will socially eviscerate that vampire for ignoring a
boon paid in good faith.

Some vampires find offering boons a blow to their egos, as it
feels like a loss. However, the only real loss to an immortal is
Final Death. Kindred not connected to others via boons lack
the basic protection offered by owing an immortal predator
a debt. A vampire who is owed a boon will wish to see it
collected eventually. Once a boon is owed, a relationship
is created. The creditors you owe now have an invested
interest in keeping you around. After all, no one wants their
debtors to suddenly go missing.

Conversely, young or powerless vampires cannot be bullied
into owing a boon to an elder merely because of the vast
gulf of social power that exists between them. A service
must be provided or a real insult must be levied to result
in owing a boon. Lazy elders who try to pick low-hanging
fruit will find that the Harpies and other elders scrutinize
their transactions very carefully. The Kindred who attempts
to erroneously claim to save another’s life will find others
angry at them for devaluing boons.

== Collecting Boons ==

A vampire with a host of boons can call upon the skills,
powers, and influences possessed by vampires across
several domains.

Boons offer control over your enemies rather than risking
your existence by killing them. Forcing your enemies to
submit to your will is the ultimate experience for a vampire.
Why would you allow your enemies to escape so easily?
Refusing a boon from a vampire is akin to saying you believe
that vampire is dishonorable. These relationships help
Kindred foster control over their existence and gain allies.
If nothing else, you should use boons from your allies to
counter boons that others might have over them.

== Boon Breakers and the Harpies ==

A boon breaker is a vampire who has refused to pay on a
boon owed. Stigmatizing a Kindred for this reason is the
worst punishment a Harpy can levy. The Harpy must first
publicly give the debtor a chance to repay the boon.

Should the debtor not complete this task to the Harpy’s
satisfaction, she declares the rogue vampire a Boonbreaker
and conveys the following social effects:

• All boons owed to and from a boon breaker are null and
void. The vampire now exists as a rogue on the edges
of vampire society.

• As long as the vampire suffers from the moniker of
Boonbreaker, she carries the negative status Disgraced.

Often, debt holders owed by a boon breaker will hunt down
and kill their former debtor. Most Princes will banish boon
breakers from their domains, lest that vampire damage the
reputation of the entire city.

A boon breaker may appeal to the Harpy who punished
her for mercy, once she has shown a willingness to address
her crimes and pay her boon. A Harpy who forgives boon
breakers too often will find her fellow Harpies monitoring
her actions a little closer.

Should the Harpy refuse mercy to a Boonbreaker, the
former debtor may attempt to appeal to a court of Harpies
numbering at least seven but no more than 13 (often
referred to as a Murder of Harpies). The Boonbreaker may
tell her story and offer evidence. The Harpy who awarded
the negative status has the option of defending her actions.

At the end, each member of the court will publically
announce her vote. Should the Murder of Harpies
overturn the Boonbreaker’s negative status, the remainder
of its term now falls upon the awarding Harpy to suffer.

Should the punishment be upheld, the Boonbreaker now
suffers an additional six months for each member of the
court of Harpies who voted against her.

On rare occasions, a Murder of Harpies from domains in
the region (such as a group of states or a small country)
will gather at a Regional Conclave to pass judgment upon
an entire domain accused of ignoring boons. Should
the Murder of Harpies decide by majority vote that the
accused domain has ignored prestation and station, they
may declare an entire domain to be Boonbreakers. All
boons coming into and out of that domain are considered
null and void. Domains suffering from this stigma are often
deemed very disreputable, and many consider anyone who
lives there unaligned. Sometimes entire domains go to war
over boons.

== Bloodhunts and Boons ==

A blood hunt cancels all boons owed and owned by
a vampire. The very act of a blood hunt negates the
existence of a vampire. A creature under a blood hunt is
no longer considered a vampire and thus does not deserve
prestation. Should a vampire manage to cleanse her name
and have the blood hunt removed, she regains all of her
previous prestation.

== Vampires Faking Their Own Deaths ==

Vampires occasionally fail miserably in politics, and some try
to start over by faking their deaths. A wise vampire settles
all outstanding affairs before attempting such a gambit.

Harpies take a very harsh stance on miscreants who attempt
to escape debts to others in such a fashion. A vampire
caught in such a desperate move will quickly discover that
all boons owed to her have been declared null and void.

This does not remove any prestation debt the vampire owed
before she faked her death.

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