Inter-faction Etiquette
Understand that all of the groups live in detente. It may seem that one group has an advantage over the other, but consider:
With so many factions and so many traditions, it can be difficult to keep your footing among faeries, wizards, vampires, or shapeshifters. There are a few universal agreements to help keep things moving.
Territory
If you are in a particular group's territory, you abide by their rules and limits. Among vampires, put the cross away; among werewolves, don't call them dogs; among faeries, don't bring cold iron unless you're planning to start a war, and so on.
Rules of Hospitality
If you are a guest in a particular territory, acknowledged by the leadership, your person and those of your entourage are sacrosanct as long as all abide by any agreements made upon entering the territory. Harm done to visitors may require commensurate redress, up to and including blood and/or execution.
Honor
If an agreement is made, it must be honored. To break faith is to earn the enmity of the other factions. All preternaturals must abide by their agreements because they must count on others to honor their word in turn.
Neutral Ground
Two vampires run a gathering place for all of the San Francisco Bay Area's preternatural community. The DMZ, as the club and restaurant is called these days, is absolutely off-limits for all violence, and can be used for negotiations among factions in some of the secured meeting rooms the club offers for its patrons. The club's internal security is formidable, but what truly ensures the sanctity of the neutral ground is a formal agreement among the leaders of all factions to find and punish anyone who violates the truce. For more information about the DMZ, check its entry here.
- Vampires are faster and stronger and can roll humans and many other beings with their power, but they are vulnerable during the day, can be turned away by the power of faith, and are as a group subject to infighting and their own arrogance.
- Shifters can go out during the day, and in a straight one-on-one physical fight, can tear a vampire to shreds, but they can have their minds rolled, are subject to magic, and most of them must spend time comatose after shifting from beast to human.
- Faeiries have magic, longevity, and cunning going for them, but they are weakened outside of the Nevernever, and have rules of conduct that can constrain them just as surely as cold iron.
- Wizards have human cunning, faith, and pass readily among humans, but they must study, prepare their magic, and don't have limitless fonts of power. They're also crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Psychics pass among humans in day or night, they have power that does not require ritual or bargains or magical focus, but psychic ability is not limitless, may have a physical and psychological cost, and is most often a focused tool rather than a metaphysical Swiss army knife.
- Plain old humans seem weak compared to the preternaturals, but they have faith, technology, sheer numbers, and cleverness on their sides. It's not as glamorous as, well, glamour, magic, psychic gifts, vampirism, or shapeshifting, but it's made humans the dominant force on the planet and means they must be remembered as a force to be reckoned with.
With so many factions and so many traditions, it can be difficult to keep your footing among faeries, wizards, vampires, or shapeshifters. There are a few universal agreements to help keep things moving.
Territory
If you are in a particular group's territory, you abide by their rules and limits. Among vampires, put the cross away; among werewolves, don't call them dogs; among faeries, don't bring cold iron unless you're planning to start a war, and so on.
Rules of Hospitality
If you are a guest in a particular territory, acknowledged by the leadership, your person and those of your entourage are sacrosanct as long as all abide by any agreements made upon entering the territory. Harm done to visitors may require commensurate redress, up to and including blood and/or execution.
Honor
If an agreement is made, it must be honored. To break faith is to earn the enmity of the other factions. All preternaturals must abide by their agreements because they must count on others to honor their word in turn.
Neutral Ground
Two vampires run a gathering place for all of the San Francisco Bay Area's preternatural community. The DMZ, as the club and restaurant is called these days, is absolutely off-limits for all violence, and can be used for negotiations among factions in some of the secured meeting rooms the club offers for its patrons. The club's internal security is formidable, but what truly ensures the sanctity of the neutral ground is a formal agreement among the leaders of all factions to find and punish anyone who violates the truce. For more information about the DMZ, check its entry here.