The Symbel
A vampire’s Beast always seeks to exert dominance over others. It will encourage and entice a vampire to demonstrate her superiority through confrontation of any kind, whether physical or political. The symbel, or political contest, began in ancient times as a method of establishing social dominancy and venting this aggression without risking violence and the Final Death.
The specifics of such games can vary depending on the sect and clan of the characters playing. Typically, there are two versions of the symbel: the duel and the ordeal.
For a symbel to be legitimate, the outcome of the game must be genuinely in doubt. If a Storyteller believes a player is deliberately making an easy game or providing too much advantage to one side, the game will fail, and both sides will lose their risked status with no benefit. Symbel games must be public, although not all participants need to know that such a game is being played. In order for a symbel’s status changes to take effect, a group of peers/people must see you play the game and win.
The Symbel Duel
In a symbel duel, two vampires each choose one trait of Personal status, offer to risk it, and agree upon terms for the game. This status may not be expended while it is risked, but it does count for Status Rating during this time. The loser of the game loses her risked status as though it had been permanently expended.
Only one individual can be declared the winner of a symbel duel. This is the individual who accomplishes the goal of the duel first, or most successfully, depending on the terms of the symbel. That vampire gains the personal status Victorious temporarily, and the vampire who lost the symbel duel loses her risked status. If no one is successful in the duel, the benefactor of the game keeps her status, and Victorious is not awarded.
If the results of this type of symbel are subjective, the characters creating the game can either agree on a victor or choose a third party to judge the results of the game. A character who has no status to expend cannot play in this type of symbel game, as she cannot fulfill the requirement of risk.
Examples:
• Two elder Ventrue wish to decide whose childe is the most competent. Each risks a status, and then both spend the next hour giving the two childer tasks, obstacles, and difficulties — all without telling the childer that they are being tested. In the end, the elders decide that one childe has proven her greater worth. The loser forfeits her risked status, while the winner keeps her risked status and also gains the status Victorious temporarily. The childer get nothing at all.
• Two Lasombra might choose to perform a symbel, risking status over a game of chess.
• Two members of the Sabbat might challenge one another’s prowess as tacticians, forcing their ghouls to fight to the death. Alternately, they might simply challenge one another directly and fight until one draws first blood or until one falls into torpor.
The Symbel Ordeal
The second version of this game is known as a symbel ordeal. In this version of the political competition, a single individual risks a status and publicly announces a goal. All those who qualify for the competition are welcome to contend, so long as they are willing to obey the rules of the contest. The benefactor of the competition cannot win her own symbel ordeal, though she may compete to increase the difficulty.
The individual who accomplishes the goal of the ordeal (first, or most successfully, depending on the terms of the symbel) gains the personal status Victorious permanently and the benefactor loses their risked status permanently. If there are no successful individuals, the benefactor of the game keeps her status and Victorious is not awarded.
If the results of a symbel ordeal are subjective, the benefactor is the final arbiter, determining the victor of the game. A character who has no status to expend is welcome to compete in a symbel ordeal, as it requires no risk of status on the part of the participant. A symbel ordeal must have enough competitors to make it worthwhile, at least enough to challenge the participants to do their best.
Examples:
• A Toreador elder challenges the Neonates at the gathering to bring her the prettiest piece of art in the city before midnight. She will be the subjective judge to choose the “prettiest” art, though if that elder’s choice of victor is clearly slanted, she may lose status from the local authority, commenting on her “poor taste.”
• A Sabbat Archbishop challenges the soldiers of her diocese to track down and bring her mortal servants of the Camarilla. The person who brings the most within three hours shall be the winner of the symbel ordeal.
Symbels in the Camarilla
Symbels are a grand tradition in the Camarilla amongst peers in station. Traditionally, the following standards apply to symbels in the Camarilla:
• Elders can only be challenged to symbels by another elder.
• A Prince can only be challenged to a symbel by another Prince or a Justicar.
• A Justicar can only be challenged to a symbel by another Justicar.
