The power of Tenure gives a vampire an uncanny awareness of his surroundings. He knows where people and things are, even if he can’t see them — including any intruders. Everything around him subtly cooperates to help him and hinder his foes. A Kindred with Tenure simply becomes more effective at everything he does — and other Kindred find the very land turning against them, if they trespass on the Landlord’s Demesne. Annunaku legends tell of elder Landlords who called up storms or earthquakes in their Demesnes, who could hear every word spoken by their tenants or who could appear anywhere in their fiefdom in an instant. Some of these powers may be higher-level expressions of Tenure, attainable only by elders of high Blood Potency. Others sound like Devotions. If such powers exist, they only work within a Demesne mystically bonded to an Annunaku (see the sidebar).
Tenure and Obfuscate
Tenure has aspects in common with Auspex. Like that Discipline, Tenure may sometimes penetrate the concealment of Obfuscate, or Obfuscate may sometimes hide a person or object from Tenure. When a character with Tenure attempts to find someone or something hidden by Obfuscate, make a contested roll of the Tenure-user’s Wits + Investigation + Tenure versus the Obfuscate-user’s Resolve + Stealth + Obfuscate. (See the “Clash of Wills” sidebar on p. 119 of Vampire: The Requiem for more about this kind of supernatural contest.) Whoever accumulates the most successes wins the mystical battle. Ties go to the defender. Most of the time, ties result in an Obfuscated object or person remaining hidden (as the Tenure user is the initiator). If a vampire tried using Obfuscate right in front of Kindred with Tenure, however, the hiding character becomes the challenger, since he’s trying to hide himself (or some object) in plain sight.
Defining a Demesne
Any vampire can command a domain granted by the Prince or some other influential Kindred. For purposes of Tenure, however, a Demesne is more narrowly defined and harder to obtain. Annunaku call this Demesne a kur, an ancient word that can mean a mountain, the earth in general, a foreign land or the Underworld of the dead.To turn his territory into a proper kur, an Annunaku must dwell within her hoped-for Demesne for at least a year. She must also obtain significant power over the mortals who live or work within her Demesne. Such power may come from respect, fear, dependence or other means, but at least a large fraction of the mortals must believe the vampire has some power over them (though they don’t have to know she’s a vampire). For instance, an undead gang leader could terrify the mortals in a neighborhood into accepting that they live on his “turf” and they’d better not cross him or any of his gang members. A vampire who poses as a community activist could obtain similar respect because the mortals in her Demesne expect her to speak for them in civic affairs. A vampire who owns a business can certainly claim it as her Demesne: her mortal employees know perfectly well that they work in a building or grounds that belong to someone else.
In game terms, a character needs at least three dots in Merits that represent her power in her chosen territory. The business owner could fulfill the requirement through Resources, the community activist through Contacts and City Status and the gang leader through Herd or Retainers, representing his gang of thugs. The Storyteller, however, has final say on whether a character has accumulated enough power to turn a region into a kur and how far the Demesne extends.
Finally, the character must prepare at least three “border-stones,” or kudurru, to use the ancient Mesopotamian term. Kudurru do not need to be made of stone (though it’s traditional): a tree, a metal trash can or a square of sidewalk could work just as well. The kudurru must touch the earth to be mystically effective, though. Border- stones must be spaced as far apart from each other as possible, at the end points of the Demesne.
All Annunaku kudurru bear scratched or etched markings that an occultist might understand with a successful Intelligence + Occult roll. These are the names of ancient gods, in a distorted form of cuneiform writing. Preparing a single kudurru requires six successes on an extended Dexterity + Crafts action to construct the stone. Each roll represents one day or night of work and costs a Willpower point. A character can have a number of kudurru up to his permanent Willpower rating (but not less than three may successfully define a kur).
If a border-stone is destroyed, the character instantly loses a point of Willpower and instantly knows that his Demesne is under attack. Annunaku usually hide their kudurru or make them difficult to reach or recognize. Aside from defining the area of a Demesne, kudurru are needed for some of the more esoteric powers based on Tenure.
Two Demesnes can never overlap. If two vampires with Tenure want to expand into each other’s territory, they must cajole, terrify or otherwise persuade the mortals in the rival’s kur to accept their mastery instead — or destroy the rival and be done with it.
A student of Tenure starts by gaining a mystical knowledge of a small area. If she concentrates on some known or well-defined object, she knows where it is and whether it’s lost, hidden or disguised. To the Kindred, it’s as if a tiny voice in her mind says, “Here I am!”
This is good for more than finding lost car keys. Whispers of the Chamber reveals the presence of intruders or another person’s hidden valuables. Only other mystic powers can hide someone or something from a vampire with Tenure. The better a character can define the target she seeks, the greater her chance of detecting it.
As a final benefit, a vampire who knows Whispers of the Chamber automatically knows if an unauthorized person enters her haven, at least while she herself is in it. She won’t track the comings and goings of Retainers (unless she wants to), but becomes instantly aware of intruders.
Cost: Whispers of the Chamber does not cost Vitae if used within the character’s own haven. Anywhere else, it costs 1 Vitae to search for one person or object.
Dice Pool: Wits + Investigation + Tenure
Action: Instant. (Reflexive for detecting intruders within the Annunaku’s haven.)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character receives a false indication of the target object’s location or believes the object is not present at all.
Failure: The character cannot sense the target object’s location.
Success: The character knows the exact location of the target object if it is within a distance defined by the successes achieved. (See below.)
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success grants no special benefits other than an extended range of insight. If this power is used within the vampire’s haven, an exceptional success automatically results in awareness of all the space within the haven, regardless of its Size.
Successes Radius
1 success 1-yard radius
2 successes 2-yard radius
3 successes 5-yard radius
4 successes 10-yard radius
5 successes 30-yard radius
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 The target is very well known or precisely definable, such as “my car keys,” “a golden ring with two square-cut diamonds,” “Jacob Fenster’s will” or “Loki.”
— The target is fairly well known or definable, such as “any car keys,” “a diamond ring,” “a will” or “a Mekhet.”
–2 The target is in motion.
–2 The target is a vaguely defined class, such as “jewelry,” “documents” or “a ghoul.”
Anything more vaguely or abstractly defined, such as “valuables” or “people” has no chance of success at all.
Annunaku are well known for the ease with which they act under conditions other Kindred find difficult. Students of Tenure never seem to trip on roots and stones, slip on ice or lose their prey in darkness, fog or clutter. Their enemies, on the other hand, may suffer such impediments to an uncanny degree. A vampire runs down a hall after an Annunaku, and the carpet slips underfoot; the vampire tries to hide in shrubbery, and a stray beam of light picks him out. Wise Kindred know not to challenge an Annunaku on his home turf, where this effect seems strongest and most omnipresent, but Annunaku can show this uncanny mastery of their surroundings almost anywhere.
Cost: Home Ground does not cost Vitae if used within a character’s haven. If used within his Demesne, the special territory he claims and rules (see sidebar), Home Ground costs 1 Vitae. The effects of this power last for a scene.
Dice Pool: Wits + Survival + Tenure
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: For the rest of the scene, the character suffers a –3 penalty on every Physical action he attempts, if there is any way his surroundings could impede him. Storytellers are encouraged to be generous in devising environmental penalties. For instance, slippery floors, smoke or fog, rain, burnt-out bulbs and other such penalties can come into play almost anywhere.
Failure: Nothing happens. All actions for the next scene receive normal dice pools, with whatever modifiers the Storyteller has already defined for the environment.
Success: Each success rolled reduces an environmental penalty to the Annunaku’s actions by one. For instance, trying to run on wet ice might call for a Dexterity + Athletics roll with a –3 penalty. A player who scored two successes on her activation roll could spend successes to cancel out some of that penalty, reducing it to –1.
Alternately, the player can also increase environment-based modifiers that favor her character. For instance, a clump of shrubbery might normally grant a +2 bonus to attempts to hide. The player could raise this to +4 for her Tenure-using character, or even increase her chances of spotting another character hidden behind similar shrubbery.
Modifiers from Home Ground apply to just one action, such as running through a garbage-packed alley, finding a concealed person, terrorizing someone in a park or making an attack. Applying Home Ground to another action requires the power to be activated again. Note that this power does not have to be activated for each roll in an extended action.
This power cannot generate any effect without environmental factors to interact with. A featureless room, for example, gives the Annunaku little to work with.
Exceptional Success: Per a normal success, though the character has a remarkable ability to act despite the environment. For instance, with five or more successes, a character might be able to accurately fire a gun in a hurricane.
Suggested Modifiers
The environment itself can make Home Ground more difficult, by giving the power less to work with. Simple or empty surroundings just don’t supply many factors that could affect a task. For instance, an empty basketball court offers little or nothing suitable for taking cover. If the Storyteller thinks an environment is simply too bare or empty to help or hinder a particular task, he can impose up to a –5 dice penalty on the Home Ground roll or just decide the power cannot work at all. Players should be encouraged, however, to suggest ways a location could offer a Home Ground advantage to characters.
As a student of Tenure gains mastery, she can extend her mystical perception over wider areas. Where before she could locate objects or people only in a few small rooms, now she can search an entire building. In olden times, vampires with Tenure really did own castles, and the stones spoke in their minds, warning of intruders. These nights, a Kindred with Tenure can search a skyscraper or shopping mall.
Cost: Voice of the Castle has no cost if used within a building containing the character’s own haven (even if the haven does not encompass the entire building). Anywhere else, Voice of the Castle costs 1 Willpower to search for one person or object.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Investigation + Tenure
Action: Instant
The sensory range of Voice of the Castle extends out from the vampire for many yards in every direction. When used within a building, sewers, storm drains, subway tunnels and other enclosed structures that don’t technically form “buildings,” the Kindred receives even more precise mystic telemetry.
Once the power has been activated, the vampire can prolong her awareness of her target’s location for up to a scene. Every “double check” of the target’s location in a scene requires another action, but not another activation roll or Willpower point. If the target moves, the vampire knows about it. For instance, one character could follow another character’s movements through a skyscraper, even though they stayed several floors apart.
The character knows the target’s location in relation to herself, such as “three floors down and fifty feet that way.” If she’s familiar with the building, she may know that direction and distance means “the men’s room,” but the power itself does not supply this information.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character receives a false indication of the target object’s location or believes it is not present at all.
Failure: The character cannot sense the target object’s location.
Success: The character knows the exact location of the target object if it is within a distance defined by the successes achieved. (See below.)
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success grants no special benefits other than an extended range of insight. If the vampire is within a building at the time this power is activated, however, an exceptional success expands the radius of power to include all the space within the building, no matter how large.
Successes Radius
1 success 5-yard radius
2 successes 10-yard radius
3 successes 25-yard radius
4 successes 50-yard radius
5 successes 100-yard radius
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 The target is very well known or precisely definable, such as “my car keys,” “a golden ring with two square-cut diamonds,” “Jacob Fenster’s will” or “Loki.”
— The target is fairly well known or definable, such as “any car keys,” “a diamond ring,” “a will,” or “a Mekhet.”
–2 Target is in motion.
–2 The target is a vaguely defined class, such as “jewelry,” “documents,” or “a ghoul.”
Anything more vaguely or abstractly defined, such as “valuables” or “people” has no chance of success at all.
Experienced users of Tenure gain the mystic power to know if anyone uses active supernatural powers or spills blood within their Demesnes. The character senses if any other vampire expends Vitae or activates Disciplines. The character also detects the special mystic powers used by werewolves, mages, ghosts and other supernatural creatures, as well as enchanted objects. The character might not, however, know the intruder’s location or the nature of the power used — only that some supernatural creature is active within his territory. If one of the vampire’s Contacts, Allies, Retainers or other Demesne-defining social connections suffers lethal or aggravated damage, the vampire may sense that as well.
Watching the Bounds only works within a vampire’s Demesne, and only when the user is also within his Demesne. A supernatural creature that does not use active supernatural powers remains undetected.
As an added benefit, a vampire skilled in this power instantly knows if any unauthorized person enters his haven. The vampire does not have to be within his haven at the time, but must be within his Demesne at the time. If he is on less familiar ground, he becomes aware of the intrusion as soon as he returns to his haven (or his Demesne, if the intruder is still present).
Cost: None.
Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Tenure
Action: Reflexive. The character does not need to be watching consciously for any supernatural intrusion.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure is not possible with this power.
Failure: The character does not sense the supernatural power at work.
Success: The character knows someone is using a supernatural power within his Demesne or harming his folk, but not the location or nature of the trespasser.
Exceptional Success: The character intuits the direction and distance to whoever (or whatever) is using supernatural powers or acting violent. He also knows if the magic is vampiric (Disciplines, blood magic, healing or physical augmentation) or something else. He might recognize the magic of other creatures as well, if he has previous experience with them, but he cannot recognize what he has never experienced before.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+4 The vampire’s people are attacked by someone the vampire is linked to via blood sympathy.
+2 A Crúac ritual, Theban Sorcery ritual or Discipline power that costs Willpower to activate is used within the Demesne.
+2 The vampire’s people are attacked by some one the vampire knows.
+1 A Discipline power that costs Vitae to activate is used within the Demesne.
+0 A Discipline power that does not cost Vitae to activate is used within the Demesne.
-2 A vampire uses Vitae to heal wounds or increase Physical dice pools (the most “natural” of vampiric powers).
A master of Tenure can extend his mystical awareness throughout his entire Demesne, inside and out, above ground or below. If a particular person is within his Demesne, he can find her and knows her location down to the footprint.
If the vampire wants, he can track a person for an entire scene. Master of the Demesne surpasses previous Tenure powers in that the character knows the target’s actual surroundings, demeanor and bearing, not merely the target’s distance and direction. With greater effort, the vampire can even cause his Demesne to hinder or help targets he has located.
By the time a vampire is able to use this power, he knows his Demesne intimately. It does not work anywhere else.
Cost: 1 Vitae per scene (plus 1 Willpower for further effects)
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Investigation + Tenure
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character receives a false indication of the target’s location or believes it is not present at all.
Failure: The character cannot sense the target object’s location.
Success: The vampire knows the exact location of the target object if it is within his Demesne.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success grants the vampire the ability to affect the area immediately surrounding a detected target with the vampire’s raw will.
The vampire can now spend 1 Willpower point to activate the Home Ground power through his mystic connection to the target and alter the target’s environment for better or worse.
The vampire can impose an environmental penalty to the target’s next action equal to the successes achieved on the Home Ground activation roll. For the most part, this penalty applies only to Physical actions, but exceptions abound: a drifting fog might penalize Perception-based dice pools as well as Drive checks, for example. Alternately, streetlights might go out, stoplights might all turn red or cracked asphalt may become especially unstable.
Activating Home Ground in this way requires an action, as usual. The vampire may change the nature and location of the penalties he applies with another action, but his ability to influence his Demesne remotely lasts only as long as he focuses on the target. Once the vampire returns his attention to his own surroundings, this enhanced Home Ground power ends. Another Willpower point and another activation roll are required to invoke it again.