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Vampire: the Masquerade
Gilded Cage
The Cities are the Kindreds Domain
The Kindred are hidden masters of cities, growing sated on the blood of the vessels within. Their domains are built on the backs of the mortals they prey upon, their fortunes made by proxies, their havens visited by the famous to the infamous. The night belongs to those who can take what it has to offer.
As Well As Their Prisons
A handbook of politics and treachery, The Gilded Cage explores how it is that the Kindred make places for themselves. From the savvy prince to the raucous iconoclast, all Kindred are inextricably tied to the cities where they make their havens, and to the mortals within. This book looks at power and influence, as well as how to cultivate it and cripple others.
The Kindred are hidden masters of cities, growing sated on the blood of the vessels within. Their domains are built on the backs of the mortals they prey upon, their fortunes made by proxies, their havens visited by the famous to the infamous. The night belongs to those who can take what it has to offer.
As Well As Their Prisons
A handbook of politics and treachery, The Gilded Cage explores how it is that the Kindred make places for themselves. From the savvy prince to the raucous iconoclast, all Kindred are inextricably tied to the cities where they make their havens, and to the mortals within. This book looks at power and influence, as well as how to cultivate it and cripple others.
112 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 29, 2017
The basic state of Kindred society is who is manipulating who. In discussions of the relative power of various supernatural groups, players often point that while most vampires can't stand up to other supernaturals in a direct confrontation--a werewolf will tear them to pieces, a mage will set them on fire or turn them into a lawn chair, a wraith exists in another world that most vampires have no way of dealing with--they excel in manipulating mortal society. The vampire can't fight a werewolf, but she can get the park they live in opened up for retail development. He can't fight a mage, but he can spread false (or true) rumors and have accusations reported to the police. She can't fight the wraith, but she can get that old abandoned warehouse torn down and turned into a shopping district. Gilded Cage is about how vampires do that.
The book is divided into sections about the different areas of mortal society, like government or the media or organized labor or criminal groups, and even extending to less-obvious sources of modern influence like hate groups (somewhat uncomfortable reading for me nowadays, though perhaps a reminder that vampires are monsters), hackers, or the church. Each source is then expanded on with what they can do, what they can't or shouldn't do, and how a vampire can base use their influence on to gain control or prevent their enemies from gaining control.
For example, criminals. The book lays out several benefits to influence among criminals. Chief among them is probably that it's easy for elders to overlook them as a viable source of power, though a close second is that vampires have all the tools needed to gain said influence innate to their being. Power among criminals is based either on direct violence or on the threat of violence, and even the most scholarly, waifish Cainite can shrug off bullets and use their blood to become stronger than any human, allowing them to directly intimidate people who almost certainly can't go to the police to complain. And the value of people who can tell the vampire who enters and who leaves the area around their haven is obvious.
Other areas of influence require a more deft touch, since threatening a corporate CEO with violence is less effective than threatening them with the public revelation of their embezzlement. Vampires can't usually give orders and expect to have them obeyed. It exposes them to too much risk, since vampires can't attend a daytime deposition or stockholder meeting and obviously are not usually represented in org charts. Using Dominate is a quick and dirty solution, but causes long-term problems as the target wonders why they allowed a stranger into the secure bank vault or why they can't remember the previous night. Influence in a bank doesn't mean the vampire can take any money that they want, since all balance sheets have to add up or regulators come down like a ton of bricks, but it does mean that the vampire's enemies might have their own loans denied. Influence in the media won't get blatant libel printed, but it will get a story moved from page 1 to page 6 (or vice versa), or a few words changed to make it obvious how trustworthy the witness talking about a "man with fangs" really is.
After a hundred pages of fluff and advice, there is a bit of crunch at the end about what exactly "Allies 3" means.
Gilded Cage is one of those books that now seems like it'd be better served with message board threads about specific issues, but at the time of its publication it was probably extremely useful. And even now, I learned some new tricks--I had never thought of getting influence at a bank and denying people loans.
The book is divided into sections about the different areas of mortal society, like government or the media or organized labor or criminal groups, and even extending to less-obvious sources of modern influence like hate groups (somewhat uncomfortable reading for me nowadays, though perhaps a reminder that vampires are monsters), hackers, or the church. Each source is then expanded on with what they can do, what they can't or shouldn't do, and how a vampire can base use their influence on to gain control or prevent their enemies from gaining control.
For example, criminals. The book lays out several benefits to influence among criminals. Chief among them is probably that it's easy for elders to overlook them as a viable source of power, though a close second is that vampires have all the tools needed to gain said influence innate to their being. Power among criminals is based either on direct violence or on the threat of violence, and even the most scholarly, waifish Cainite can shrug off bullets and use their blood to become stronger than any human, allowing them to directly intimidate people who almost certainly can't go to the police to complain. And the value of people who can tell the vampire who enters and who leaves the area around their haven is obvious.
Other areas of influence require a more deft touch, since threatening a corporate CEO with violence is less effective than threatening them with the public revelation of their embezzlement. Vampires can't usually give orders and expect to have them obeyed. It exposes them to too much risk, since vampires can't attend a daytime deposition or stockholder meeting and obviously are not usually represented in org charts. Using Dominate is a quick and dirty solution, but causes long-term problems as the target wonders why they allowed a stranger into the secure bank vault or why they can't remember the previous night. Influence in a bank doesn't mean the vampire can take any money that they want, since all balance sheets have to add up or regulators come down like a ton of bricks, but it does mean that the vampire's enemies might have their own loans denied. Influence in the media won't get blatant libel printed, but it will get a story moved from page 1 to page 6 (or vice versa), or a few words changed to make it obvious how trustworthy the witness talking about a "man with fangs" really is.
After a hundred pages of fluff and advice, there is a bit of crunch at the end about what exactly "Allies 3" means.
Gilded Cage is one of those books that now seems like it'd be better served with message board threads about specific issues, but at the time of its publication it was probably extremely useful. And even now, I learned some new tricks--I had never thought of getting influence at a bank and denying people loans.
July 28, 2020
A bit simplistic even for someone with as little economic knowledge as I have (read: none), but it serves plenty of inspiration to flesh out vampire power structures and make them more interesting characters, as well as adding to the plot.
February 12, 2009
The absolutely best book on how to use influence and contacts in an Urban Fantasy setting that I have ever read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews