Sect War Rules

Preface

No one will be forced into PvP that truly does not want to be. However, active participation may result in PvP, due to the nature of the situation.

Territories

Its state determines a territory’s defenses and abilities; Weak, average, and strong. This will likely not feature too much on the player side and is more for staff, though players can increase a location’s strength once they’re appropriately entrenched. The state determines the area's current defenses and how difficult it would be to take it. The farms and such out in Maitland are weak - easy to grab up and maintain, but don't give a whole lot unless you're willing to put in the work - while Matroosfontein would be strong due to its airport access.

Claiming Territory

Without any conflict, players need to gain a certain number of Backgrounds in the desired area to claim it. Only domain Backgrounds can be gained in the name of claiming territory; Portillon, Lien, Chasse, and everything that falls under them. Gaining these Backgrounds does not require an experience spend, only project rolls. If you wish, you may tap your character’s Background dots to gain a one-die bonus to your project roll. This taps the Background for one story or four IC nights. Any character may work towards these, though it’s prudent to make claiming domain a team effort as a single person can be an easy target. Backgrounds, whether gained by an individual or a coterie, only benefit the person or group that purchased them.

The number of required Backgrounds depends on the strength of the area; 3 for weak, 5 for average, 7 for strong.

If two individuals or groups are attempting to claim the same territory, one side will need to gain a number of Backgrounds over the other (3 for weak, 5 for average, 7 for strong) in order to successfully take it from the other. This may be accomplished by either building up Backgrounds of their own or sabotaging the Backgrounds of the other side.

Investigation

Players can investigate an area to gauge the territory’s current Backgrounds. This uses up their project roll for the night and requires a pool that makes sense for the area they’re investigating. The DC is decided by the number of Backgrounds that are sunk into the territory; the DC is 7 as a base and every dot invested into the area lowers the DC by 1 (more established territories are, therefore, easier to sniff out). Portillon does not affect the DC, but will subtract from the investigator’s dice pool per dot. Success gets the investigator the general gist of the operation, while a critical success will net identifying information on the person(s) running the operation.

Players can also investigate their own, claimed areas if the feel another PC is muscling in on their territory. The DC required follows a similar formula to the above; the base DC is 7 and the number of Background dots invested into the attempt by the intruder lowers the DC by 1 for each dot. Lien adds a number of dots equal to its rating to the investigator’s dice pool. Success gets the investigator information on what the interloper was poking at, while a critical success will net identifying information on the person(s) involved.

In addition, if a PC scores a messy critical or bestial failure in your domain, Storytellers will make a roll to determine if your character hears of it. This will be a single die + Portillon. On a success, you will receive vague information about the situation. With a critical success, you will receive identifying information about the player character. You will also be alerted if a player character has sabotaged any of your territory Backgrounds.

Events

When putting Backgrounds into an area, there is the chance that an event will proc. This generally happens at 3, 5, and 7 dots of Backgrounds (dependent on the strength of the area). The event itself will be tied to the relevant area and will be completed as either a full scene or a guided vignette, depending on the Storyteller and player involved. These events will increase in difficulty as more Backgrounds are put in. The final event (the one at 7 dots in Backgrounds) requires the permanent ousting of another presence but is usually only relegated to strong territories. This presence will always be members of the previously owning sect, if it was in fact controlled by another sect before the takeover was initiated.

If a player wishes to upgrade the strength of their territory, they must gain 5 dots in Backgrounds that make sense to show this improvement and increase the strength by one level. This is in addition to the Backgrounds needed to initially claim an area.

How Are Coteries Affected?

All coteries that form will still get their free Backgrounds, but cannot take domain Backgrounds for territory outside of their sect’s control. They can, of course, work to claim other territories after creation.