Web, as befits the signature Discipline of the Lynx, is the power of human networks. The individual nodes that make up a network are a secondary concern to the practitioners of this Discipline. It’s the connections and flow between nodes that is essential to understand. A Kindred who masters this ability might know more about what your friends and allies think of you than you do, even if she has just met you.
For the purposes of the Discipline, a network is any social construct made up of nodes and the information that moves through the relationships between them. The pattern and type of connections, and the flow of information along the connections, is an important feature of the system. For example, a physical net, as used for fishing, is not a good metaphor for a Web network, because nothing moves along the connections between the nodes. The Internet is a network because information moves between the nodes. The Internet is a Web-compatible network only when that information moves between human nodes according to the whims and wishes of human participants in the network. Thus, any two websites may not be a part of the same network, for purposes of this Discipline, unless their creators and modifiers are specifically interacting with other human participants that they know.
This is an intuitive ability, not a science. A Lynx may be most fascinated with the information between nodes, but the nodes are most often where she gets her telemetry. A Lynx cannot use Web to instinctually understand any change that is not wrought by human motives, but she can intuit (and eventually anticipate) the flow of passion and information between even distant and unknown human nodes. It is a difficult concept to grasp, even for most Lynx. As a result, many Lynx struggle to quantify their experiences with this Discipline and couch the sensations of its use in dry, scientific or technical terms.
The Internet is only the most obvious and plain example of a network. In fact, for the Lynx, it’s not truly a kind of network at all. It’s really just a medium through which other human networks can be observed. For the purposes of Web, it’s an environment, like a highway or a bar.
Networks rarely have well-defined edges. As a rule of thumb, one large network connected to a second large network by only a few nodes is evidence of two different networks. Similarly, the description of some networks gives an idea of its effective boundaries. The roads of Chicago, for example, connect to the expressways that lead to Detroit, but the expressways are not part of the Chicago road network any more than Detroit is.
It is harder to intuitively understand a larger network, so Kindred with this Discipline tend to interact with smaller networks they believe that they can become intimately familiar with.
For the purposes of this Discipline, there are the following three types of networks:
Formal social networks are of great interest to most Lynx. These networks are made up of the people in an area who do business with one another. These links are primarily financial: who buys from whom, who borrows money from whom, who delivers to whom. These are also links of competition, determined by who competes with whom. Individual final consumers are generally not part of the network; rather, groups of consumers are considered together, as target markets. The substance that flows around the network is, typically, money. This is a cold network, informed by habit and practiced behavior rather than emotional ties. Even for the living, this is a vague, instinctual thing. Formal social networks exist between commuters on the train and regular customers at the store — they are the surface of human networks. In general, this can also be seen as the network of Mental Traits, though Social and Physical factors certainly contribute to the activity of and between nodes.
Personal social networks are composed of nodes of friends, lovers, sexual partners and enemies. In this case, the links are human relationships, and information, conversation, sex, favors, feelings and personal rivalries are the packets of data that flow around the network. This is a deeper, more private network than a formal social network — this is the heart of human networks. Generally speaking, this is the Social network, though Mental and Physical factors certain play a large part in social dynamics.
Spatial networks, such as road, rail and sewage networks, can also be interfaced with by a Lynx. These networks are typically more static and evidentiary than social networks, but that’s not always the case. Though a Lynx attuned to spatial networks may be able to infer the function and meaning of buildings, roads and pipes constructed by human agents, she is better able to mingle with the movement within those systems, slipping into crowds, influencing the flow of traffic and predicting where a human or car will change direction. This is the most Physical network of the lot, as it casts the actual human body as the information that travels between man-made nodes.
A Lynx can only use the powers of Web in the types of networks with which she is attuned. Every Lynx attunes to one of the three network types automatically upon developing the first dot of Web. Attunement to an additional network types can be acquired by spending five experience points. A Lynx cannot be attuned to more types of networks than she has dots in Web.
Most of these powers work with any creature who participates in human relationships, from ghouls to vampires to mages. As a general guideline, creatures with a Morality or similar Trait rated two or less cannot be affected by this Discipline. Spatial networks may contest eligible powers with a Resistance Trait value that reflects the average traffic through the space, as determined by the Storyteller.
The most basic of Web powers, this allows a vampire to “scan” and read one node in a network. If a node could be thought of as a buoy in the sea, chained to numerous other buoys in the dark, then this power can be thought of as shining a light on that buoy, revealing the types of chains that lead away from it and a vague idea of the directions they’re headed.
This power doesn’t give a Lynx much information on the network in general, but it provides the tools for investigating networks and assembling a map of their nodes. The information the vampire gains is full of strong sensations and mental images, tempered by the biases and experiences of his subject node. Thus the information received is accurate only to a point. However, when tracing a lead on information to an adjacent node in the same network, the Lynx instinctually realizes that she has made contact with a specific associate node.
For example, when a Lynx attuned with personal networks “scans” a mortal woman, she might learn that she is currently infatuated with a blond man and experiencing what feels like a bad break-up with a co-worker. If the Lynx encounters the woman’s “blond man” and scans him, the vampire instinctually understands that she has found the man the mortal woman is infatuated with. The Lynx may also learn that the blond man does not love her back.
What constitutes a node of any particular network type is open to some interpretation by the Storyteller. A personal node is always a person, and the interface with a personal node must always be through direct social contact, whether that means a formal interview, flirtations at a crowded restaurant or small talk on the subway. A formal node requires direct observation of the subject by the vampire, though contact is not necessary — trailing the subject is typical. A spatial node must be a junction or intersection on some sort of physical network, such as a freeway interchange, a telephone junction box or a boiler room, and must be visited in person by the Lynx for the scan to work.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Wits + Investigation + Web – subject’s Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Instant. Note, however, that while the actual moment of activation requires only an instant action, a character must observe or interact with a node for a number of minutes before this power can be used. In general, a Lynx may successfully scan with only one node per scene. Thus, at the end of many scenes, a Lynx’s player might attempt this power on any one character she was interacting with throughout the scene.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character fails to interpret any useful information from the subject and is unable to use this power again for the rest of the night. Vitae spent to activate the power is wasted.
Failure: The character fails to observe anything useful.
Success: The character uncovers a few leads from the node’s behavior. For each success scored on the activation roll, one piece of information is gained about the subject’s relationship with its network. This information may seem to be gleaned by subtleties of behavior (“See the way he’s eyeballing that dress? He was just thinking about buying it for someone. Someone with red hair.”) or attitude (“He’s pissed. Look at him. He hates his boss.”), but that is often just a trick of the blood. The information is often gleaned directly by vaguely sensing the subject’s psychic presence.
Alternately, the character can learn something about the subject’s Social Merits. To use this option, the Lynx must select a Merit to gauge — Allies, Contacts, Herd, Mentor or Retainer, for example — and then compare the successes on her activation roll to the subject’s dots in that Merit. The Lynx gets an intuitive understanding of the Merit in question, up to a value equal to the successes scored. For example, if a Lynx scores three successes on her activation roll, she can learn about as many as three of the subject’s dots in Contacts; if the subject as five dots of Contacts, two of those dots would go unread by the Lynx unless she tried to scan the subject again and achieved a greater result. Generally speaking, a Lynx first learns about the contacts and connections the subject is most comfortable with.
The information gained about a spatial node involves the human traffic through that node. A Lynx might sense that “around midnight, that bridge fills up with foot traffic,” “these vents lead outside, where people sleep on them” or “most of the calls through this box are inbound — and frightened.”
Exceptional Success: Extra successes are their own reward, but an exceptional success with this power also reveals information of greater clarity, usually beginning with the subject’s name (as she thinks of it).
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 The power is turned on a subject the vampire has fed from.
+2 The power is turned on a vampire with whom the user shares a blood tie (see Vampire: The Requiem, p. 162).
–2 The target and the user do not speak the same language.
–2 to –5 The target node is not interacted with properly: a person may be frightened or offended, a spatial node might be visited in a rush.
After a Lynx learns to read nodes, he comes to understand how to construct or enhance his own networks of blood. Though the rational mind of an intelligent Lynx might be able to parse the sociometrics of interpersonal relationships, it’s the blood that thrums in response to social networks and informs his perceptions. Therefore, a Lynx can only form artificial — or, truly, supernatural — networks through the medium of blood. Contrary to some beliefs, however, a Lynx can create links between any blooded creature, whether vampire, ghoul, mortal or other.
Cost: 1 Vitae per link. This cost can be paid by any mix of Vitae from the Lynx and any other Kindred subjects. To form a link with any subjects that are not Kindred, the Lynx must have at least one Vitae from each subject in his system when this power is activated. The qualifying Vitae may be spent to activate this power, but that’s not a requirement.
Dice Pool: Presence + Persuasion + Web versus the subject’s Composure + Blood Potency (if resisted)
Action: Instant, if the subjects are willing; extended and contested if they are not. A number of successes must be accrued equal to the highest Willpower of all unwilling subjects. Each roll represents about one minute.
To activate this power, the Lynx must be able to see all the subjects directly — not through a video camera or photograph — in addition to fulfilling the requirements above. If the Lynx is unable to spend enough Vitae in one turn to activate this power, he must spend the Vitae as quickly as he can in the turns leading up to and including the activation roll.
A Lynx does not have to be a member of the blood networks he creates with this power.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire fails to form any links and finds his ability to perceive his attuned networks diminished — he suffers a –2 penalty on all Web activation rolls for the rest of the night. All Vitae spent to activate this power is wasted.
Failure: The character fails to form any links and all the Vitae spent to activate this power is wasted.
Success: The character successfully forges links of blood between the subjects. Each subject can now affect the others as if they shared a blood tie (see “Blood Ties,” on p. 162 of Vampire: The Requiem). If any of the subjects already shared a blood tie, its effects are doubled. This effect also allows all the subjects to feel the proximity and condition of the other subjects according to the rules for blood sympathy.
This artificial blood tie persists for a number of nights equal to the Link user’s Resolve. Subjects who want out after the first night can spend one Willpower point to attempt a Resolve + Composure roll to break their link to the blood network; this Willpower point does not augment the dice pool but merely makes the attempt possible. The dice pool to break the link is penalized by the Lynx’s dots in Web. A Lynx with this power may add his dots in Web to all blood sympathy dice pools.
Exceptional Success: If the Lynx scores five or more successes on the activation roll (or five more successes than necessary on the extended action), his connection to the subjects is so strong that he may temporarily see through their eyes. To do so, the Lynx simply spends one Willpower point per turn he wishes to spend spying through the subject’s eyes.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 The power is turned on a character with whom the user shares a real blood tie.
–1 Each subject beyond the first.
–2 The subjects are a mixture of creatures (mortal, ghoul, mage, etc.).
–3 The subjects do not all know each other.
After a Lynx becomes comfortable reading nodes and understanding her own sanguine networks, she may learn to insert or delete herself from existing networks. To do so, the vampire must first successfully scan a subject node with Web. Once that’s done, the Lynx can use this power to pose as a node in a foreign network or diminish her profile in a network she is genuinely a part of. The Lynx becomes difficult to track and hard to ignore.
Cost: 1 Willpower per scene
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Web versus subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Instant and contested; resistance is reflexive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Lynx achieves the opposite of the result she wanted, getting a penalty instead of a bonus or vice versa.
Failure: The character fails to insert herself into a network or delete her presence from a network.
Success: The vampire successfully alters her place in the desired network. The Lynx’s dots in Web either become a bonus to dice pools for interactions with the network in question or a penalty to the actions of other nodes to interact with the Lynx through the network. A bonus represents the Lynx interacting the expectations and familiarity of other nodes within the network, while a penalty represents the Lynx shutting parts of herself off from a network she belongs to.
As an example of an insertion, consider a Lynx who uses this power to insert herself into a personal network: she might alter a node’s memory subtly so that he accepts her as a forgotten college classmate or friend of a friend. The malleability of the node’s interactions with the Lynx grants her power and flexibility within the network, represented by her bonus dice.
The exact dice pools that can benefit from this power vary with the individual networks; the Storyteller must decide on a case-by-case basis if a dice pool is eligible. An insertion into a personal or formal network could grant bonuses to Socialize, Persuasion and Subterfuge actions. Insertion into a spatial network could benefit dice pools for Drive (other drivers instinctually make cooperate with the Lynx), Computer (the Lynx gleans an intuitive understanding of the jargon and organization of the system) or even Stealth dice pools (the Lynx moves within the flow of daily traffic so as not to attract attention to herself).
As an example of a deletion, consider a Lynx who uses this power to dampen the emotional force put on her by a Kindred “relative” — the penalties applied to the relative’s actions more than counteract the effects of a blood tie.
The dice pools that can be penalized by deletion are more restricted, as the Lynx can only affect those that interact with her through her personal and formal networks. Therefore, dice pools that would normally be affected by Status dots may also be penalized by this power. Rolls to sense the link through the blood sympathy are always penalized when this power is active. Likewise, attempts to get information out of affected nodes about the whereabouts and business of the Lynx are penalized, even if the subject is attempting to search her own memory — the subject simply cannot recall all the information she could before.
This power must be centered on an individual subject node when it is first activated, but its effects echo mystically through the network as the Lynx moves deeper into the system. Each degree of separation between the Lynx and the subject node reduces the effectiveness of her bonus or penalty by one. Thus, the Lynx may enjoy a +3 bonus with the mortal she pretends to know from college, but this bonus is reduced to +2 when dealing with his roommate and +1 when dealing with the roommate’s friends. Likewise, the Lynx’s interface with a spatial network, like a highway, diminishes as she moves further from her entry point.
Exceptional Success: There is no benefit for an exceptional success when using this power.
After a Lynx understands how to alter a network around himself, he can learn how to alter the relationships between nodes other than himself. With this power, a Lynx can edit the chains of information that flow out of a scanned node, altering emotional states and spatial rhythms with the mystic force of his will. A clever Lynx can use this power to set off much larger changes in a network: a frayed relationship may lead to lucrative political clash or a halt in traffic may keep unwanted pursuers at bay or dangerous reinforcements away.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Web versus subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character temporarily loses his attunement to the network type being interfered with. For the rest of the night, all the character’s powers of Web are ineffective with that network type. The Willpower spent to activate this power is wasted.
Failure: The normal state of the network is too difficult to alter, so the character cannot make his changes stick. The Willpower spent to activate this power is wasted.
Success: The character successfully alters the natural state of the subject node. If the node is a creature in a social network, the Lynx may alter that node’s relationship with another, adjacent node in the system. In game terms, the Lynx may color that relationship with any Virtue or Vice; the behavior of the subject creature changes only in regard to one other creature to reflect the values of that Virtue or Vice. For example, if the Lynx alters the Seneschal’s attitude towards the Prince to align with Greed, the Seneschal may begin to scheme against his lord or toady for more power. If the Lynx then successfully alters the Prince’s attitude to be informed by Charity, the Prince might take pity on his servant and grant him more power.
If this power is used on a spatial network, the Lynx may alter the state of flow at the subject node. For example, the Lynx may mystically compel the drivers on an expressway to slow down and gape for no reason near the subject node or the Lynx might subtly influence pedestrians to clear a path on a busy sidewalk. The exact effects must be adjudicated by the Storyteller, but the general effect is this: the Lynx can attenuate good flow into bad or expand bad flow into good.
Each change persists for the remainder of the scene, but the effects wrought by the changed network may endure forever. For example, car crashes caused by an altered network may lead to very real deaths.
The Lynx must be able to see the subject node with his own eyes when this power is activated.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success yields no enhanced effects, though the changes to the subject node may persist for the rest of the night, at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–2 The character has just encountered the subject for the first time.
–3 The character has never encountered the node to be altered in the subject’s perception.
–4 The Virtue or Vice to be conveyed is strongly out of line with the subject’s default relationship (e.g., making an angry widow regard her husband’s killer with Charity).
–1 to –5 The character’s own hatred or bias interferes with his ability to subtly project his influence onto the subject.
At the highest level of Web mastery, a Lynx is able to scan live networks through the evidence of their existence alone. By studying letters, emails, photographs, videotapes, purchased gifts and so forth, the Lynx can glean an understanding of some of the nodes involved. Essentially, the vampire is now studying the space between the nodes, rather than the nodes themselves. The amount of insight a Lynx can casually gain through this sort of investigation is truly intimidating. An irresponsible or sinister Lynx with this level of mastery may be a prized asset to the covenant or a terrible threat to the security of the domain.
Cost: 1 Willpower per scene. Once activated, this power may enhance other powers used within the scene.
Dice Pool: This power is not actively rolled. Rather, a Lynx with this level of familiarity is simply better able to employ and understand the other powers of Web. With evidence to work from, a Lynx may extrapolate information on all of the nodes the article has moved between. For example, with access to a person’s email, a Lynx may be able to scan both the sender and the recipient remotely, provided they are nodes in the same living network. Junk mail, meaningless trinkets and unimportant correspondence are of no use to the Lynx, however, as they have no importance to the relationship between the subjects.
Not all useful data is created equal. Older correspondence left over from defunct networks is useless — Web only works on active networks. Immaterial evidence, such as computer files, and damaged materials, such as waterlogged photographs, impose penalties from –1 to –5 to the scan attempt based on both their substance and their condition. Ultimately, the ability of any medium to convey information about the relationships that created it must be determined by the Storyteller.
Action: Instant